Bill Pickett
Taylor, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(ca. December 1870-March 25, 1932) The son of a former slave, Willie M. (Bill) Pickett grew up in Taylor. Working as a cowboy in central Texas, he pioneered the art of "bulldogging," in which a cowboy jumps from his horse to twist a steer's horns to force it to the ground. One of the few black cowboys on the rodeo circuit, Pickett became a sensation, performing in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and Europe. He retired in Oklahoma in 1930 and died two years later from injuries sustained in a riding accident. In 1971 he became the first African American cowboy inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. (1991)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born around 1870 to a former slave and raised in Taylor, Bill Pickett revolutionized the rodeo by inventing "bulldogging," leaping from his horse to wrestle a steer to the ground by its horns. One of the very few Black cowboys on the circuit, he became an international sensation, performing across North America and Europe before a riding accident took his life in 1932. In 1971 he became the first African American inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Why it matters
Pickett's fame corrects the whitewashed image of the American cowboy, honoring the Black riders who were central to Western ranching and rodeo.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Bill Pickett was born around December 1870, in the years just after the Civil War and emancipation. His father had been enslaved, and Pickett's generation grew up in the uncertain world of Reconstruction, when formerly enslaved Texans and their children were building new lives amid real opportunity and fierce discrimination.
Central Texas in those decades was cattle country. The great era of trail drives and open-range ranching made cattle work one of the main livelihoods in the state, and Black cowboys were a significant part of that workforce. Many had learned to handle cattle and horses before emancipation, and their skills were valued on ranches even when their rights were not.
Pickett grew up in and around Taylor, in Williamson County, where farming and ranching shaped daily life. Boys learned to ride and rope early, and the line between everyday ranch work and showing off skill could be thin. Informal contests among cowboys were part of how the modern rodeo developed.
By the late 1800s and early 1900s, Americans in the cities had fallen in love with the idea of the Wild West, even as the open range itself was disappearing. Traveling shows and rodeos brought cowboy skills to paying crowds, and that entertainment world is where Pickett made his name.
People & events
Pickett worked as a cowboy in central Texas and developed a technique so daring it became an entire sport. In "bulldogging," the cowboy leaps from a running horse onto a steer, grabs its horns, and twists until the animal is forced to the ground. Accounts of Pickett's style also describe him biting the steer's lip, as ranch dogs did, which is often given as the origin of the name.
Pickett's skill made him a sensation. He became one of the few Black cowboys on the rodeo circuit, performing across the United States and in Mexico, Canada and Europe. He is especially remembered for his years with the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West Show, based in Oklahoma, which took Western performers to audiences far from the cattle range.
His success came against real barriers. Black performers of his era often faced exclusion and unequal treatment, and it is widely told that Pickett was sometimes billed in ways that obscured his race, or was kept out of competitions altogether. The fact that he became a star anyway shows how extraordinary his talent was.
Pickett retired in Oklahoma in 1930. Two years later, in March 1932, he died from injuries suffered in an accident while working with horses, a cowboy to the end. In 1971 he became the first African American cowboy inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, long after his death but a lasting recognition of what he had achieved.
Its place in the American story
Steer wrestling, the sport Pickett pioneered, is still a standard event at rodeos across North America. Every time a cowboy jumps from a horse onto a steer in an arena today, he is performing a version of something a Black cowboy from Taylor, Texas, made famous more than a century ago. Few individuals can claim to have added a lasting event to a national sport.
Pickett's story also corrects a long-standing distortion in how Americans picture the West. Movies and popular culture made the cowboy almost always white, but historians have shown that a large share of working cowboys were Black, Mexican or Mexican American. Pickett is among the best-known examples of the diverse workforce that actually built the cattle industry.
His life also reflects the wider African American experience in the generations after slavery. As the son of a formerly enslaved man, he reached international fame through skill and nerve in a society that often refused to see Black achievement. His 1971 Hall of Fame induction came during a period when Americans were reconsidering whose stories counted as national history.
Today Pickett's name lives on in rodeos and in efforts to celebrate Black cowboys and Western heritage. The marker in his hometown connects all of that back to where it began.
If you visit
The marker stands in Taylor, a Central Texas town northeast of Austin in Williamson County, where Pickett grew up. Standing here, imagine the ranch country of the late 1800s, when a young cowboy was working cattle in this region and developing the move that would make him famous.
This is a great stop for families. Kids who have seen a rodeo, or who love horses, will enjoy learning that one of the sport's classic events started with one bold cowboy from right here. It is also a natural way to open a conversation about who the real cowboys were and why some of their stories were left out of the history books for so long.
To round out the experience, see whether a rodeo is scheduled somewhere in Texas during your trip and watch for the steer wrestling event, knowing now whom to thank for it. Travelers heading north can continue the story in Oklahoma, where Pickett performed and retired and where the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City honors Western history.
Take your time in Taylor itself. Small Texas towns like this one produced some remarkable people, and this marker reminds you that world-famous careers can start on quiet local ranches.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
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