Willie M. (Bill) Pickett, the son of a former slave, grew up in Taylor and worked as a cowboy in central Texas, where he pioneered the art of “bulldogging,” in which a cowboy jumps from his horse to twist a steer’s horns and force it to the ground. One of the few Black cowboys on the rodeo circuit, he became a sensation and performed in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and Europe. He retired in Oklahoma in 1930 and died two years later from injuries sustained in a riding accident. In 1971, he became the first African American cowboy inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.