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On April 27, Humanities Texas and The Wittliff Collections will host an event in San Marcos with author Sarah Bird, who will speak about her award-winning photography book Juneteenth Rodeo. Humanities Texas's newest traveling exhibition, Soul Circuit: Juneteenth Rodeos in Texas, featuring Bird's photographs of small-town Black rodeos, is on display at The Wittliff Collections through June 29.

In the late 1970s, a time when rodeo competitors with ranch backgrounds were more the rule than the exception, Black communities throughout Texas organized local rodeos for cowboys and cowgirls outside of the mainstream, white-sponsored circuits. Known as the "Soul Circuit," this thriving network of small-town rodeos played a crucial role in perpetuating and sustaining the more than two-hundred-year lineage of Black cowboys in America. These jubilant occasions, particularly Juneteenth rodeos, celebrated fellowship, community, and victories both in and out of the arena. Soul Circuit: Juneteenth Rodeos in Texas features forty-three of Bird's dynamic black-and-white photographs that take viewers along the full morning-to-late-night arc that constituted a Juneteenth rodeo.

Following her remarks, Bird will sign copies of Juneteenth Rodeo, which will be available for purchase. This event is free and open to the public. Please register online to attend.

San Marcos

Sunday, April 27, 2025
2:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University
Seventh Floor, Albert B. Alkek Library
601 University Dr.