Posted inCulture, History, Incarceration

In New Orleans, Black Cowboy Tradition Collides With Prison Rodeo Spectacle

NEW ORLEANS — Outside, along Claiborne Avenue in the Algiers section of New Orleans, Sunday looked familiar. Black children slurped snowballs in the street, adults danced around them, and Black riders eased their horses through the crowds, past corner stores and shotgun houses, hooves clapping against the asphalt.  For Black riders like Robert Pollar, who […]

Posted inCulture, Incarceration

‘The Wildest Show in the South’: Spectacle and Suffering at America’s Biggest Prison

ANGOLA, La. — On a blistering fall afternoon, even by Louisiana’s standards, mainly Black incarcerated people cling tightly to bucking horses. They run from barreling bulls and get tossed around like rag dolls in events that are outlawed in rodeos across the country — but not here at the “wildest show in the South.” Each […]

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