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Professor Mia Mask Explores the Legacy and Influence of Black Cowboy Films
By Sofia DeRose ’28

Mia Mask’s critically acclaimed book Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western examines the evolution of Black westerns from the 1950s to the present. The book, published by the University of Illinois Press in 2023, goes back to the beginning of the genre, when Woody Strode—one of the first Black American players in the National Football League—made the switch from star athlete to actor. (Strode’s first film was Sundown, released in 1941, in which he played a Native American policeman.)

Old western style flyer with a collage of five different cowboys drawn in a parchment and black and white style. The title/copy overlayed reads, "A History of the African American Western".
Photo courtesy of BFI

The actor paved the way for similarly gruff heroes played by Jim Brown and Fred Williamson, as well as films like Buck and the Preacher (1972), starring Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, which broke ground for Black directors and provided unconventionally rich roles for women. The book goes on to discuss the evolution of the popular Blaxploitation genre.

Mask, Professor of Film on the Mary Riepma Ross ’32 Chair, notes that Black westerns—influenced by the Civil Rights era, Black Power politics, anti-war protests, and women’s liberation—reflect African American history and American history, in general.

A collage or two images side-by-side. On the left is a portrait of a person with long black hair and a beige blouse smiling. On the right is a book cover that reads, "Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western" with a picture on the bottom of five cowboys on horses.
Professor Mia Mask based the series of films she has curated for the British Film Institute on her critically acclaimed Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western.
Photo: Buck Lewis. Cover: University of Illinois Press

This month, Professor Mask is bringing her knowledge and insight into the Black cowboy genre “across the pond.” She has curated 15 African American–themed westerns for a series at the British Film Institute/Southbank. The program features such films as John Ford’s socially conscious western Sergeant Rutledge (1960); Duel at Diablo (1966), featuring Poitier and James Garner; and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012). With campy characters and countercultural influences, Mask’s selections reimagine the West with complexity and depth and highlight the lasting cultural influence of the Black western.

View the full program of films in the BFI series.

Read Professor Mia Mask’s recent interview with Mario Van Peebles, director of Posse, a 1990s western influenced by the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. Professor Mask’s commentary on film can often be found on National Public Radio, IndieWire.com, and a variety of other news sources.

Posted
February 7, 2025
Black History