Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo

Way to go, Kortnee Solomon

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1JVPpNsnMa/?mibextid=wwXIfr

She debuted at the rodeo at five years old. By eleven she was making history on national television. The future of Black rodeo has a name — and it's Kortnee Solomon.
Born and raised in Hempstead Texas, Kortnee Solomon didn't choose rodeo. Rodeo chose her before she was old enough to understand what legacy meant. Her grandfather Sedgwick Haynes was the general manager of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. Her grandmother Stephanie Haynes won 18 invitational championships. Her mother Kanesha Jackson is an 11-time invitational champion and the first African American female barrel racer inducted into the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin. Her father Cory Solomon is a PRCA tie-down roper mentored by none other than Fred Whitfield — the first African American cowboy to win a PRCA World Championship.
Four generations of Black rodeo excellence running through her blood before she ever touched a saddle.
She made her debut at the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo at just five years old. By eight she was the BPIR Rookie Cowgirl of the Year and a Junior National Finals Rodeo qualifier. By eleven she was competing in the first Black rodeo ever broadcast on national television — the Bill Pickett Invitational Showdown in Vegas on CBS — making history alongside her mother and grandmother in front of an audience the sport had never reached before.
She competes in ladies barrel racing and junior breakaway roping — often the only girl in the entire competition. She doesn't think about that. Before every run she finds a quiet corner, sits alone and thinks through exactly what she and her horse are going to do. Then she goes and does it.
She said it simply the way only a true cowgirl can — "When I finished my first run I got my passion back. Then I just started competing more and more."
Her mother said something even more powerful — "My goal is to give hope to the women who think they aren't good enough or don't quite feel like they belong."
Myrtis Dightman opened the door. Charles Sampson walked through it. Fred Whitfield built the house. And now a young girl from Hempstead Texas is growing up inside it — preparing to take everything her family built and carry it further than any of them ever could.
Watch this name. Remember where you first heard it.
That is Kortnee Solomon. 🤠🎀✊