For decades the idea of the cowboy has been romanticized in books, television, and movies as a white hero wearing a white hat. This nostalgic idea is sewn into the national fabric. While the Black cowboy, if recognized at all, is represented as a historical side note resigned to a distant memory. The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America offers a contemporary counterpoint through Ron Tarver’s insightful photographs of Black people embodying their Western cultural heritage.

Taken between 1993 and 1997, these photographs offer testimony to the lived experiences of a thriving community. Celebrating a full-circle of experience, from Black owned ranches to big city riding clubs across the United States, Tarver’s images speak to Black joy, Black freedom, and Black resistance.

The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America deconstructs ideas of Black identity and challenges the whitewashed myth of the all-American cowboy. Simply stated, the exhibition is about the beauty, romance, and majesty of the Black West.​

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