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Before retirement, the brother and sister, 73 and 61, respectively, worked as educators. But horses and rodeos have always existed in their lives. Their father became the first Black cowboy in the rural village after buying his first horse, Shorty. Thyrl\u2019s legacy are the Black cattlemen who come to his family’s productions, including the \u201cRobbins Rodeo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Latting let me use his arena and steers when I was first starting to do this on my own,\u201d Autman said. \u201cHe gave me a key so that I could go and practice whenever I wanted to. He gives what he can to anyone who is serious about the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Incorporated in 1917, the village of Robbins is the oldest originally all-Black town in the North. The town\u2019s namesake, Eugene S. Robbins was a real estate developer who sold the previously abandoned land to Black people for $90 a month on a payment plan, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago. Today, Data USA reports that the village is 85.1% Black, 8.5% Hispanic and 4.3% white. The suburb began as one of the only places where Black families could own land and property in the greater Chicago area. Originally called the \u201cBlue Island Settlement,\u201d the people of Robbins incorporated to establish themselves within the surrounding White community. Once a stop on the Underground Railroad, Black people settled in Robbins after the Great Migration from 1916 to 1970. The promise of economic freedom, self-determination and home ownership drew them in, but they originally lacked amenities like sewage and plumbing.<\/p>\n
Tracy Latting built her current house next door to her childhood address. Comparing data from the National Association of Realtors and Data USA, the home ownership rate in the town is 20% higher than the national average for African Americans. The land her property sits on was previously the Robbins Rodeo School, founded by her father. The opportunity of Black ownership in Robbins helped the Lattings contribute to rodeo. Tracy collects rent from tenants in her parents\u2019 former home with no plans to sell anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I did move, I would probably sell my house and keep my parents\u2019 house,\u201d she said. \u201cIt’s smaller so that if I ever wanted to come back, I would have a home to come to.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thyrl Latting\u2019s rodeo company came at a time of economic prosperity in the village characterized by multiple Black-owned businesses. The Lattings\u2019 family business is one of the few still around. Today, Mike Latting employs 10 Black cowboys, who help him build and break down their traveling rodeo. In 2025, they were scheduled to produce 21 rodeos in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Michigan between March and November, similar to last year\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n Da\u2019shawn Campbell, a 16-year-old cowboy, works with Latting\u2019s production team most weekends. While other teenagers spend time at the mall, Campbell tends to animals and assists with Latting\u2019s projects.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot of life skills like patience and consistency doing this,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cI want to do this for the rest of my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n For the Lattings, rodeo is a way of life. Mike Latting expects to produce rodeos until his final days, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m having difficulty retiring from rodeo,\u201d he said. \u201cThey’ll probably find me behind the wheel of the truck with the air conditioner running and say, \u2018Well, guess he died doing what he loved.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Until then, he continues to put on rodeos for his community. He also trains the next generation of Latting cowboys through his children and granddaughter \u2013 in addition to the youth he trains at his production company.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is where I was raised,\u201d he said. \u201cI don’t see any other way. Yeah, it’s important. Why? Because that’s what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Autumn Coleman is a recent graduate of Northwestern\u2019s Medill School of Journalism.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Horse hooves knocked chunks of dirt over the steel bars of the arena. Stallions charged 20 mph after a loose steer. Within seconds, a cowboy slid off his steed, grabbed the loose animal by its horns, flipped it over his shoulder and tackled it to the ground. The crowd clapped and hollered. On a Saturday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":765,"featured_media":106170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,452,5251,5539,28,5542],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-beyond-chicago","category-chicago","category-fall-2025","category-general-interest","category-msj25"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Young](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/coleman-cowboy-campbell.jpg\")
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