Latest news with #SarahBird
CNBC
21-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Walmart AI details leaked during Microsoft Build conference
Microsoft AI security chief Neta Haiby showed a confidential Teams chat to a room full of people on Tuesday, revealing details from the company's artificial intelligence plan for Walmart, according to materials viewed by CNBC. Protesters interrupted the Microsoft Build session on best security practices and Haiby switched her screen share amid the ruckus, showing that Walmart, one of Microsoft's most significant customers, was "ready to ROCK AND ROLL with [Microsoft's] Entra Web and Al Gateway." The message, posted by Leigh Samons, a principal cloud solution architect at Microsoft, detailed the process for how Microsoft would go about integrating its technology into Walmart's processes. It also said that one of Walmart's tools needed extra safeguards. "MyAssistant is one they build that is overly powerful and needs guardrails," the message said, referencing a tool Walmart created and built last summer that "leverages a unique build of Walmart proprietary data, technology and large language models in Azure OpenAI Service," according to a January press release. The tool helps store associates summarize long documents, create new marketing content and more, per the release. The internal Teams message also cited a "distinguished" AI engineer at Walmart as saying, "Microsoft is WAY ahead of Google with Al Security. We are excited to go down this path with you." The Verge was first to report on the AI plans. CNBC has reached out to Microsoft and Walmart for comment. The protest singled out Sarah Bird, Microsoft's head of responsible AI who was part of the Build panel with Haiby. Haiby herself was formerly a member of the Israeli Defense Forces, according to a years-old Tumblr page viewed by CNBC. Haiby did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "Sarah Bird, you are whitewashing the crimes of Microsoft in Palestine," Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the group No Azure for Apartheid, said, continuing, "How dare you talk about..." before the livestream audio was muted. Nasr was one of the Microsoft employees terminated last year after planning a vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza. The protest and the reveal of Walmart's AI plans followed another disruption earlier that day at Microsoft's Build developer conference in Seattle when an unnamed Palestinian tech worker disrupted a speech by Jay Parikh, Microsoft's head of CoreAI. "Jay, you are complicit in the genocide in Gaza," the tech worker, who did not wish to share his name for fear of retaliation, said. "My people are suffering because of you. How dare you. How dare you talk about AI when my people are suffering. Cut ties with Israel." He then called to "free Palestine" and said, "No Azure for apartheid," a nod to the group and its petition. On Monday, Microsoft software engineer Joe Lopez interrupted CEO Satya Nadella's keynote speech onstage, saying, "Satya, how about you show them how Microsoft is killing Palestinians? How about you show them how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?" The recent disruptions are part of a mounting string of protests at Microsoft events over the Israeli military's use of the company's AI products. At Microsoft's 50th anniversary event last month, two Microsoft software engineers publicly protested during executive presentations. The roles of both employees were terminated soon after, according to documents viewed by CNBC. At the April event, Ibtihal Aboussad, then a software engineer in the company's AI division, interrupted Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman's speech. "Mustafa, shame on you," Aboussad said as she walked toward the stage at the event in Redmond, Washington. "You claim that you care for using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. Fifty thousand people have died, and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region." "You have blood on your hands," she said before being swiftly escorted out. "All of Microsoft has blood on its hands." Although the Microsoft protests centered on the Israeli military's use of its technology, AI companies in recent months have been walking back bans on broader military use of their products and entering into deals with defense industry giants and the Defense Department. In November, Anthropic and defense contractor Palantir announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services to provide U.S. intelligence and defense agencies access to Anthropic's Claude AI models. Palantir recently signed a new five-year deal worth up to $100 million to expand U.S. military access to its Maven AI warfare program. OpenAI and Anduril announced a partnership allowing the defense tech company to deploy advanced AI systems for "national security missions." And last month, Scale AI forged a deal with the Department of Defense for a multimillion-dollar flagship AI agent program.
The Verge
21-05-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Microsoft's AI security chief accidentally reveals Walmart's AI plans after protest
Microsoft's head of security for AI, Neta Haiby, accidentally revealed confidential messages about Walmart's use of Microsoft's AI tools during a Build talk that was disrupted by protesters. The Build livestream was muted and the camera pointed down, but the session resumed moments later after the protesters were escorted out. In the aftermath, Haiby then accidentally switched to Microsoft Teams while sharing her screen, revealing confidential internal messages about Walmart's upcoming use of Microsoft's Entra and AI gateway services. Haiby was co-hosting a Build session on best security practices for AI, alongside Sarah Bird, Microsoft's head of responsible AI, when two former Microsoft employees disrupted the talk to protest against the company's cloud contracts with the Israeli government. 'Sarah, you are whitewashing the crimes of Microsoft in Palestine, how dare you talk about responsible AI when Microsoft is fueling the genocide in Palestine,' shouted Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the protest group No Azure for Apartheid, and a former Microsoft employee who was fired for holding a vigil outside Microsoft's headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza. View this post on Instagram Walmart is one of Microsoft's biggest corporate customers, and already uses the company's Azure OpenAI service for some of its AI work. 'Walmart is ready to rock and roll with Entra Web and AI Gateway,' says one of Microsoft's cloud solution architects in the Teams messages. The chat session also quoted a Walmart AI engineer, saying: 'Microsoft is WAY ahead of Google with AI security. We are excited to go down this path with you.' We asked Microsoft to comment on this protest and the Teams messages, but the company did not respond in time for publication. Both of the protesters involved in this latest Microsoft Build disruption were former Microsoft employees, with Vaniya Agrawal appearing alongside Nasr. Agrawal interrupted Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former CEO Steve Ballmer, and CEO Satya Nadella later during the company's 50th anniversary event last month. Agrawal was dismissed shortly after putting in her two weeks' notice at Microsoft before the protest, according to an email seen by The Verge. This is the third interruption of Microsoft Build by protesters, after a Palestinian tech worker disrupted Microsoft's head of CoreAI on Tuesday, and a Microsoft employee interrupted the opening keynote of Build while CEO Satya Nadella was talking on stage. This latest protest comes days after Microsoft announced last week that it had conducted an internal review and used an unnamed external firm to assess how its technology is used in the war in Gaza. Microsoft says that its relationship with Israel's Ministry of Defense (IMOD) is 'structured as a standard commercial relationship' and that it has 'found no evidence that Microsoft's Azure and AI technologies, or any of our other software, have been used to harm people or that IMOD has failed to comply with our terms of service or our AI Code of Conduct.'
Business Wire
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Credo AI Collaborates with Microsoft to Launch AI Governance Developer Integration to Fast-Track Compliant, Trustworthy Enterprise AI
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Credo AI, a global pioneer and leader in AI governance for the enterprise, today launched an integration with Microsoft Azure AI Foundry. First announced in November, the next step in this collaboration bridges a long-standing divide between technical development and AI governance teams—empowering enterprises to innovate with AI at speed and scale while simultaneously ensuring trust, safety, and compliance. A recent Gartner report predicted that 60% of GenAI projects will fail after proof-of-concept due to gaps in governance, data, and cost control. Governance teams often lack the technical context to define or interpret AI evaluation results, while developers lack clarity on how to meet emerging governance requirements. The result is misalignment, friction, and AI innovation stuck in R&D. 'As AI becomes central to enterprise value creation, governance must shift from reactive oversight to proactive enablement,' said Navrina Singh, Founder and CEO of Credo AI. 'Our integration with Microsoft Azure AI Foundry represents a breakthrough: actionable, real-time governance that lives where AI is built. It's how innovation accelerates with responsibility.' 'Credo AI's integration tackles one of the biggest blockers in enterprise AI–the communication and alignment gap between AI governance teams and developers,' said Sarah Bird, Chief Product Officer for Responsible AI, Microsoft. 'The integration delivers prescriptive guidance to AI governance leaders on what to evaluate and empowers developers to run governance-aligned evaluations directly within their workflow.' The 1st Step to Solving the AI R&D Bottleneck This integration marks a breakthrough in Credo AI's vision to operationalize policy-to-code translation–turning abstract governance goals into concrete, actionable metrics and steps. By bridging policy and execution, the integration empowers governance teams to convert risk-management and innovation strategies into code-level evaluations–enabling scalable, measurable risk management across the AI lifecycle. The benefits of Credo AI's integration with Azure AI Foundry: Governance teams receive structured, validated technical evidence tied to each use case. Developers get code to run evaluators (like groundedness, hallucination, bias) to ensure their development process is aligned with AI governance and business objectives Evaluator results automatically flow back into the Credo AI platform, linking risk insights directly to governance workflows. Unlocking Innovation with Built-In Trust As part of this integration, all Azure AI Foundry models are governable within the Credo AI Platform, which is made possible by Credo AI's automatic integration specific mapping to the appropriate policies, risks, and evaluation requirements. This ensures: Faster AI adoption and approvals through contextual risk insights End-to-end compliance visibility aligned with the EU AI Act, NIST RMF, and ISO 42001 Smarter investment decisions based on governance readiness and risk adjusted ROI The integration is already in active pilots with select Global 2000 enterprises and has received strong enthusiasm from Microsoft teams and customers alike. Early users report accelerated model approval, clearer cross-team multistakeholder collaboration, and faster time-to-value for high-risk AI initiatives. 'At Version1, we're using the new Credo AI and Microsoft Azure AI Foundry integration to streamline AI governance for our clients—embedding policy, risk, and compliance into development and easing the load on our AI Labs team,' said Brad Mallard, CTO of Version1. More information on the Credo AI integration for Azure AI Foundry can be found here. To request a Demo of Credo AI's Platform, visit AI Governance Platform and AI Governance Advisory Services empower your enterprise to adopt and scale trusted AI with confidence. From Generative AI to Agentic AI, Credo AI's centralized platform measures, monitors, and manages AI risk—enabling your organization to maximize AI's value while mitigating security, privacy, compliance, and operational challenges. Credo AI also future-proofs your AI investments by aligning with global regulations, industry standards, and company values. Recognized as Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, CB Insights AI 100, Inc. Best Workplaces, and the World Economic Forum Technology Pionee r, is leading the charge in accelerating the adoption of trusted AI.
Fast Company
12-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
How effective project management is revolutionizing AI transformation in organizations
For many businesses, AI is a must-have. Whether integrating it into customer service functions or using it to cut down busy work and boost productivity, companies now see AI as an essential tool in their technology arsenal. But how can leaders ensure that their companies are using it to its fullest potential? That was the topic of a recent panel discussion sponsored by the Project Management Institute (PMI) at the Fast Company Grill during SXSW. Three business leaders weighed in with their thoughts on how companies should—and shouldn't—proceed when jumping into the world of AI. Here are three takeaways from their conversation. (Scroll to the bottom to watch the entire panel discussion.) 1. Think big. Start small. Iterate often. In the startup tech world, the mantra has long been 'move fast and break things.' But when it comes to AI, it pays to take a more calculated and deliberate approach. Kathleen Walch, director, AI engagement and community, Project Management Institute, sees a much higher failure rate when companies roll out AI projects compared to typical tech upgrades. 'What is causing these projects to fail?' she asked. 'It really comes down to making sure you understand what problem you're trying to solve . . . and making sure that AI is the right solution.' That doesn't mean companies should play it safe when considering where to apply powerful AI technology. 'The other challenges we see with organizations is not dreaming big enough,' said Sarah Bird, chief product officer of responsible AI at Microsoft. 'You really need to pick that right use case where, when you get it right, you're going to be absolutely thrilled with the outcome. If you start with something boring and then it turns out boring, you're like, 'Why did we go through all that effort?' ' Leaders should also beware of the potential for a bureaucratic watering-down of their ambitious AI plans. That's been the experience of Tom Geraghty, vice president of digital innovation at Universal Destinations & Experiences. He's been on the team building Universal's Epic Universe, the highly anticipated new theme park that's set to open in May at Universal Orlando Resort. 'Some of my best friends are lawyers, finance people, and they're all going to chip away at your idea,' Geraghty said. 'So, make sure that your vision is super grand and you have room to compromise for physics and gravity, lawyers and money and time, and all the rest of that stuff, and you'll end up with something amazing.' 2. Make your team smarter. Using AI effectively is a learned skill. Before rolling out access to AI throughout the organization, companies need to take the time to educate their employees up and down the ranks on its potential—and pitfalls. 'The most successful organizations that we've seen start with that first and figure out how they're empowering and educating their employees,' Bird said. 'And then you start to see the magic happen after that.' That on-the-job training doesn't have to be handled in-house. Companies such as PMI provide e-learning resources to help upskill and educate employees across an organization. At PMI, professionals can access a broad menu of education and certification programs, with many aimed at helping project managers learn how to use generative AI and gain insights into prompt engineering. 'Everybody's at a different stage in their AI journey, and that's absolutely okay,' Walch said. '[PMI] is being very forward-leaning and saying, 'How can we help those project professionals along their entire journey?'' 3. Get out of the sandbox. The first step in introducing AI is identifying where and how to apply it. Once that decision is made, the next phase is to get that project off the ground quickly. Walch noted the strong temptation to stay in the sandbox—to run tests over and over until there's certainty that it'll work in the real world. 'We always say do pilots, not proof of concepts,' she said. 'Proof of concepts prove nothing.' To ensure AI solutions perform effectively and scale successfully, AI project leaders should prioritize real-world pilots with real users, enabling performance monitoring, feedback collection, and immediate issue resolution for optimal production readiness. Geraghty noted that NBCUniversal is constantly running pilots of AI projects it is working on, whether for theme parks, television, or movies. He and other leaders at the company play the role of test subjects, but those projects also make their way to consumers as a way to help NBCUniversal gain insights into how they're working. Ultimately, however, the goal of those projects isn't to make users notice AI. Instead, it's to use the power of AI to create something that truly wows them. At Universal Studios, that means using AI technology to build a new kind of immersive theme park experience. 'What we're trying to do is make guests forget about it,' Geraghty said. 'It should just be about the magic and the fun.' Watch the full panel:
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
See beautiful pictures of Black cowboy culture in Texas in Sarah Bird's 'Juneteenth Rodeo'
One of the most celebrated Texas books of 2024 was "Juneteenth Rodeo," with photos and an essay by Austin author Sarah Bird (University of Texas Press). It was everywhere: Perched on bookshelves, displayed on coffee tables, stacked for sale at book fairs and museums. Smithsonian Magazine, no less, chose it as one of the Ten Best Photography Books of 2024. A tribute to small-town Black rodeos in Texas, the project rescued images and memories from Bird's early career as a photojournalist. They had been stored in a plastic tub under a bed in the author's house. More about Sarah Bird: Explore the historically upside-down world of dance marathons in Depression-era Galveston "Taken at a pivotal moment when the desegregation of rodeos were still honored more the in the breach than in the observance and when rodeo competitors with ranch backgrounds were more the rule than the exception," Bird writes, "these photos are dedicated to the ropers and riders, the fans, and the many eventual friends who welcomed me into extraordinary world that was small-town Black rodeo in the late 1970s." Although I've paged through my copy dozens of times, it seemed right to publish an interview with Bird during Black History Month. Make no mistake: This is history. Crucial Texas history. American-Statesman: You begin your book by quoting a friend who said during the 1970s, when you were taking these photos: 'I didn't know there were Black cowboys.' Recently, you told me while we wandered around the 'Juneteenth Rodeo' exhibit at the Neil-Cochran House that you have run across that same lack of awareness many times in the decades that followed. Why do you think that perception is so widespread and persistent? Sarah Bird: The short answer is 'Hollywood.' With a few exceedingly rare exceptions, the only cowboys audiences saw on the big screen were of the John Wayne ilk. Comic book cowboys like the Lone Ranger and the heroes of Louis L'Amour paperbacks all reinforced the belief that the job description for 'cowboy' began with 'Must wear big hat and boots' and ended with 'Only whites need apply.' I have to admit, though, that I was surprised to hear that exact reaction recently from several visitors, young visitors, at the exhibit. So, yes, in spite of the recent spate of gorgeous photo books documenting the contemporary Black rodeo scene, the presence of a number of Black champions in pro rodeo, and Queen Bey herself releasing an album with 'cowboy' in the title, we are still a long way from fully reclaiming the heritage of Blacks in the West. As a freelance photographer just out of journalism school, why were you attracted to 'renegade rodeos' that included all sorts of other underreported cowboy or cowgirl cultures. Please talk about some of know the guiding wisdom in journalism and photojournalism: Tell the untold story, capture the unseen image. As a newcomer to Texas, and one who'd spent most of her childhood on overseas Air Force bases, I was fascinated by the state's flamboyant oddities and excesses. Following my hunches about what might make for a publishable story, I photographed rattlesnake roundups, sorority rushes, honky-tonk dancing and it wasn't mainstream rodeo that interested me. In fact, as an animal lover, I would have preferred that most of the events didn't take place at all. No, I gravitated toward what I called the 'renegade rodeos.' Prison, police, kids, girls (yes, it was called 'Girls Rodeos' back then), Indian (again, the official name of the Indian Rodeo Association), oldtimers, charreadas, and gay rodeos, I photographed them all. More about Sarah Bird: See authors Sarah Bird and Jonathan Van Ness for free at Austin Central Library To invoke a joke I'm sure I've worn out by now, I even heard of a nudist rodeo. In California, naturally. But I never got close enough to that one to learn the true meaning of bareback riding. To say nothing of with mainstream rodeos, my interest was not in the roping and riding. What truly intrigued me about these offbeat rodeos was how each group remade this most American, most mainstream of pastimes in their own image. How each culture created a distinct world that orbited the arena on its own unique trajectory. What drew you in particular to Black rodeos? Since you were sometimes the only white person present, did you feel trusted with this access to their lives and cultures?I fell in love with Black rodeos from the moment I first set foot in one. Actually, I was smitten even before I got to the arena. In this case, it was the Diamond L Ranch and Arena. Once located on far south Main outside Houston, the Diamond L was a legendary venue for cowboys and girls of color. I arrived early, and was greeted by the aroma of brisket being slow-smoked over post oak. Not a bad start, right? Next, I heard a song pouring from the rickety loudspeakers. And it wasn't the mournful sort of C&W favored by mainstream rodeos. No, the first song I heard at a Black rodeo was 'Boogie Fever.' Then, when the events started, I was treated to the sight of a chute man helping a rider get settled. And that chute man was wearing a shirt with a Jackson Five decal emblazoned on the wasn't to like? From the first, Black rodeos were more vibrant, more alive with community spirit, and basically just a heck of a lot more fun than any other variety. It's only in retrospect that I am deeply moved by how kind and welcoming everyone was to me. I don't know if I was particularly oblivious of the fact that I was either the only white person, or one of only a very few whites, in attendance, or if, having grown up in a desegregated military world, I didn't feel out of place. In any case, my melanin deficiency was never an issue. Only later did I learn that these enchanted community affairs were in large part an answer to being shut out of mainstream rodeos. Knowing now how deeply un-welcome Black fans and participants would have been at a white rodeo makes me treasure the hospitality I was shown even more. The photos of riders and livestock in action are visceral, thrilling, but you also captured what went on outside the arena, the little social interactions that were just as important to the people there that day — or night. Why did you choose these particular images? Any particular ones stay with you? More Texas authors: Get the facts straight: How these nonfiction books help keep Texas history accurate I love this question because it brings up some of the discussions I had with the wise and highly accomplished experts who helped me put the book together. They introduced me to a rule that is sometimes invoked in documentary photography that is equivalent to the rule in film and theater about not breaking the fourth wall. For some documentary photographers, this translates into a taboo against subjects looking directly at the camera. Especially if that subject is smiling. The argument being that subjects are then 'mugging,' playing to the camera, and that this disrupts the truth of the answer was that these events were parties, more reunion than rodeo. The clusters of fans celebrating being together were smiling more often than not. I believed it would have been untrue to the essence of the Black rodeos I documented not to capture the sense of joy that animated other essential truth that I wanted to portray was that everyone was invited. I'm thinking now of the photograph of the women gathered at the edge of the arena on lawn chairs and on the gates of campers and pickups, gossiping and laughing about some bawdy comment. One woman is hoisting a drink my way as if to include me in the images where subjects are looking directly at me capture that sense of inclusion, of a party where everyone is invited. Those smiling photos document the big-hearted welcome that even I — a clueless big-city-girl shutterbug — received. So many of the images are celebratory. Did you get a sense that these rodeos were charged with an emotional energy perhaps rare in the hard lives of rural Texans?Great question, and one I have only confronted in retrospect. The happy images have taken on many layers of poignancy in recent years as I've learned about both the extent of segregation in Texas at that time and the dire plight of Black farmers and ranchers. One particularly telling statistic brings home just how difficult it was for rural Blacks. In 1910, Black farmers and ranchers owned as many as 16 million acres of farmland. While that was only 1.8 percent of U.S. farmland at the time, that number is dramatically smaller today. Through a combination of racist violence, anti-Black legislation and discrimination at federal loan programs, as of 2017, Black farmland ownership had plummeted to 2.9 million acres. More on Texas authors: Texas history: On second thought, make that 60 essential books about our state That fact is a big reason why the world I photographed — a world of working cowboys and cowgirls, farmers, and ranchers living in tiny rural outposts — has virtually vanished. Bringing back all these images that you took more than 40 years ago seems to have been a sort of pandemic project for you. Talk a little about how you roped together all your negatives and notes and memories, and how technological advances such as digital photography helped out. I shot my first rodeo, the Huntsville Prison Rodeo, in 1975. So, huzzah, as of 2025 the project is half a century old. Once I was introduced to Black rodeos, I was certain that I had a hot property. A scoop, if you will. I was convinced that publishers would be beating down my door, eager to welcome Black buckaroos into the quite. When I started submitting my work in the late 1970s, what I heard back was 'no,' 'no,' and 'hell no.' I was told that there was 'no market for' or 'interest in' the subject. A couple of dubious editors even asked that familiar question, 'Are there really Black cowboys?'So, heart and bank account broken, I stored my negatives and prints under my bed in a couple of —archivists everywhere will now shudder--plastic tubs from Target. And there they would have remained had it not been for the aforementioned worldwide pandemic. Shamed by Marie Kondo, I joined the rest of the country in attempting to instant I pulled that Target tub out from under the bed, I felt a tremendous sense of obligation to everyone I'd photographed, an obligation to shine a light on the glorious world they had once 2020, I donated all my prints and negatives to the Southwestern Writers Collection, where the peerless archivist Carla Ellard and her team of wizards digitized the instead of needing a darkroom, chemicals, film, an enlarger, a dryer, and all the other requirements for making analog prints, the digitized images came to instant life on the screen of my laptop. That moment was very emotional for me. Those photos were like kidnapped children who had finally been ransomed. The exhibit that hung at the Neill-Cochran House in 2024 will be revived soon in Galveston. How can people see it there? Will you be speaking on the subject soon in the Austin area?Yes, thanks and all hail Humanities Texas, the stellar organization that awarded a grant to fund a traveling exhibit of the photos. As you mentioned, it opened here in Austin. Beginning January 11, the show will be on display at the Nia Cultural Center in Galveston, the home of Juneteenth. From there the exhibit will travel to the Southwestern Writers Collection, in San Marcos. I am scheduled to speak during that run a couple of times. More on Texas books: Top Texas writers lionize Larry McMurtry in absorbing new book 'Pastures of the Empty Page' The black-and-white images from the 1970s feel very present and alive. Yet there's also an elegiac undertone to the book. Is this a way of life that, like so much else in rural Texas, is fading or perhaps evolving into something else? Fading? Absolutely. Though Black rodeos still exist, they are generally professional affairs, such as the Bill Pickett Invitational, held in coliseums in large cities or the famous Oakland rodeos. My photos capture the final days of a time when these small-town rodeos were still rooted in the business of ranching. When many, if not most, of the competitors had grown up riding and roping. These were men and women who knew how to rope, dope, brand, and dehorn a only have the majority those Black farmers and ranchers been displaced, but the rodeo venues themselves have disappeared. The Diamond L was shuttered decades ago, and all the tiny rural outposts closest to Houston have been gobbled up by that hungry city. We were both surprised to find out we had a classic Black rodeo cowboy acquaintance in common from that period: Buster Thorne, who rode at the Diamond L Ranch and Arena outside Houston, a short pickup ride from my family's grocery store. Great to see him at the height of his powers in your photos. How perfect is that? Pretty damn perfect. Especially considering that Buster and his brother Ed — as authentic a pair of cowboys as ever threw a leg over a horse — were the ones who, after recounting their adventures while working on ranches like the Four Sixes and Shanghai Pierce, told me about a woman who had served with the Buffalo Soldiers. Though it took me decades, I finally recounted that riveting tale in my novel "Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen."But the absolute best moment of this entire journey was when one of the four legends of Black rodeo that I had photographed appeared at the opening of the exhibit in writing the captions for the book, I had attempted to contact as many of my subjects as I could in order to credit them. I was delighted to find and speak with Myrtis Dightman, the first Black cowboy to gain admission to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Two of the other legends, Rufus Green and Archie Wycoff, had already passed on. I had no luck tracking down the fourth legend, Taylor Hall, who went by Bailey's Prairie Kid. The Kid was known for always wearing a tie over an immaculate white shirt, and for always smoking a cigar when he rode broncs. Given that he was in his forties when I photographed him, I assumed that the Kid, too, was no longer with us. So it was a huge thrill when the 93-year-old, still working, still a dapper cowboy, made a surprise appearance. In so many ways this experience has been, as my people were wont to say in the 1960s, trippy. Though extremely gratifying, it's been odd to be recognized for work I started 50 years ago in a field other than the one I spent my career laboring in. Equally odd is the realization that I created work that is now history and that the major key to this book's success is that I managed to stay alive long enough to see it unambiguously happy part of this adventure is seeing how the world has changed enough to not just acknowledge the existence of Black cowboys and cowgirls, but also to celebrate them and the enormous role they played in the history of the West. Michael Barnes writes about the people, places, culture and history of Austin and Texas. He can be reached at mbarnes@ Sign up for the free weekly digital newsletter, Think, Texas, at or at the newsletter page of your local USA Today Network paper. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Crucial Texas history: Black rodeos documented in 'Juneteenth Rodeo'
