Delta Hill Riders

• Photographer
  Rory Doyle
• Agency / Studio
  Rory Doyle Photography
• Technical Info
  Digital Photography Photo Essay
• Photo Date
  2007-2018

A recent article in Smithsonian estimated that just after the American Civil War, one in four cowboys were African-American. Yet this population was drastically underrepresented in popular accounts. And it is still. The “cowboy” identity retains a strong presence in many contemporary black communities. This ongoing documentary photo essay in the Mississippi Delta, sheds light on an overlooked African-American subculture — one that resists both historical and contemporary stereotypes. The project began in January 2017 when I attended a black heritage rodeo in Greenville, Mississippi.