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The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America A book about the Black cowboy in contemporary America unlike any other! The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America tells the story of the Black cowboy experience in contemporary America like no other book. Although Black cowboys have been a fixture on the American landscape since the nineteenth century, few people are aware of their enduring contributions to the history of the West and how their unique culture continues to thrive today in urban as well as rural areas all over the country. The book features Ron Tarver's beautiful, compelling, and often surprising contemporary images of African-American cowboys that not only convey the Black cowboy's way of life and its rich heritage, but also affirm a thriving culture of Black-owned ranches and rodeo operations, parades, inner-city cowboys, retired cowhands, and Black cowgirls of all ages, too. Tarver, who grew up in a family of Black cowboys in Oklahoma, uses his artistry to question, if not upend, long-held notions of what it means to be a cowboy and, with that, what it means to be an American. The Long Ride Home couldn't be more timely, coming on the heels of films such as Lil Nas X's hit time-travel western, Old Town Road (2019), and Idris Elba's Concrete Cowboy (2021), which was based on Greg Neri's Ghetto Cowboy (2013), about Philadelphia's contemporary African-American cowboy culture. Many of Tarver's images were made in some of the same Philadelphia neighborhoods. Widespread interest in the Black experience in America will also make this book an especially important contribution to Black history. In addition to Tarver's photographs, The Long Ride Home includes an essay by Art T. Burton, an expert on the history of Black cowboys. This book is both a tribute to and celebration of the Black cowboy in America. It is certain to be an invaluable addition to American history for years to come.
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$55.00 U.S. (trade discount) Published in July 2024; reprinted in November 2024 Book Events & Exhibitions: March 27, 2025 at 6:00 pm Fall 2026 September 13, 2024 "Before 'Cowboy Carter,' Ron Tarver Spent 30 Years Photographing Black Cowboys" USA Today 2024 Read an interview with Ron Tarver in Hyperallergic Watch a video of Tarver's exhibition prints
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