Yeehaw, Milwaukee! 🐎 🤠 💌 A Love Letter From March's Event
Can I get a yeehaw up in here?
This month's CreativeMornings/Milwaukee was one for the books — and the history books, at that. It felt like a celebration before anyone even sat down.
From the outside, the building is an unassuming dark red brick schoolhouse in a residential neighborhood. Step through the door and it transforms — on this particular morning, into a full-on cowboy celebration.
Guests entered through an archway into the community center gym, which transformed into our lecture hall for the day — with approximately 50 horses displayed throughout. Horse banners, horse posters, inflatable horses, a horse photo booth and on centerpieces with tiny horses to keep us company from every angle. The Missing Peace didn't just host this event — they made it feel like a homecoming.
Then six Black cowboys walked in and gave us a master class on local cowboy history.
This Month's Featured Venue
We were welcomed with open arms by Babett Reed, Executive Operations Director of The Missing Peace — and she set exactly the right tone.
The Missing Peace is a community collaborative space dedicated to giving people a safe place to share their experiences, find resources, and support one another through a variety of programs and initiatives. Their mission says it best: "Together we can create a world where everyone can find their missing peace and thrive in a community that uplifts them."
If you're looking for a space that genuinely walks its talk when it comes to community, get to know The Missing Peace. They're the real deal.
This Month's Featured Performer
Before the cowboys took the stage, DJ Julian Gross set it. March's featured artist kicked off the morning with a western playlist that pulled the whole room into the spirit of the day — and if you were there, you felt it.
Julian is more than a DJ. He's a performer, recording artist and sound engineer who brings a perspective shaped by his southern Maryland roots to Milwaukee's local music scene. He has mixed and mastered tracks for artists including Kirko Bangz, Dizzy Wright, and JAY IDK, and his own original sound is just as compelling.
His philosophy on music fits right in with what CreativeMornings is all about: "Music is supposed to tell stories, deliver messages, and emit emotions. I make all of my music based on real life events or experiences. If someone can connect or relate to a certain situation I've been through, I'd consider myself a successful musician."
Julian is available for bookings throughout Milwaukee. Keep an eye out for him — and if you need a DJ who brings genuine artistry to the table, reach out.
Connect, experience and follow along:
📩: juliangross@juliangrossmusic.com
🌐: www.juliangrossmusic.com
🌆: @juliangrossofficial
Our Featured Panelists
You Got To Have Your Heart Involved
Cowboy history, as most of us know it, is incomplete. The real story is richer, wider and far more diverse than Hollywood ever let on.
When Kevin Nichols stood up as a 30-second pitcher in front of the April 2024 CM audience, he was hoping to bring those stories to light. Kevin wanted more people to know about the Wisconsin Black Cowboy Association. After his pitch, he connected with Natalie Derr, Kelvin Kazibwe and Jenn Hergert to make that happen.
Language Tells A Story
The word "cowboy" has roots in racism — "boy" was a derogatory term used for Black men regardless of age. White workers were called "cow hands" or "ranch hands." Mexican workers were called "vaqueros." Only Black workers got saddled with "cowboy" — and yet they claimed it, owned it and made it legendary.
Built By Many Hands
Vaqueros — Mexican and Indigenous people — were the original American cowboys, teaching settlers how to work cattle and the land. Black and formerly enslaved people brought deep knowledge of animal husbandry and horsemanship from Africa, becoming masters at training horses and cattle. The American West was a collaboration. It just wasn't written that way.
Names We Weren't Taught
Bill Pickett, Bose Ikard, Isom Dart, and more shaped the famous cowboy culture. Bass Reeves, a Black U.S. Marshal, brought in over 3,000 felons and is widely believed to be the real inspiration behind The Lone Ranger. Stagecoach Mary (Fields) drove the mail across the West. Deadwood Dick (Nat Love) was one of the best riders and sharpshooters around. These stories exist — they've just been skipped over, whitewashed in films and TV that quietly race-swapped real history.
As Percy Evans put it: "The Black man helped build the American West — and we are left out of history."
History Lives Right Here in Milwaukee
These aren't cowboys who traveled in from somewhere else. They're our neighbors. Doc Stamps grew up a few blocks from where we sat, at 25th and Vine — his cousins went to school in the very building that now houses The Missing Peace. Percy Evans was born and raised in Milwaukee and spent his career as an educator in Milwaukee Public Schools, weaving Black cowboy history into his work. Mack Kirksey has been around horses since age 4 and got his first pair of boots at 5. For these men, cowboy culture isn't a hobby or a heritage project — it's identity, rooted right here in the Walnut Hill neighborhood.
And they ride for this community in the most literal sense. When a little girl named Alexis Patterson went missing, Milwaukee's Black cowboys didn't wait on the sidelines. They saddled up and rode through parks, along the lakefront and through backyards, searching for her. That's what it means to be a cowboy in the city.
How You Can Show Up for Milwaukee's Cowboys
These men aren't just horse riders — they're active community members who show up. Here's how we can show up for them:
- Invite them to your block, they'd love to visit
- Talk to local representatives about making parks and open lots more horse-friendly
- Keep an eye out for cowboy events happening around the city — and bring a friend
- Advocate for more cowboy and horse education year-round, not just during Black History Month
- Get involved or donate to the Milwaukee Black Cowboy & Buffalo Soldier Association https://www.mkebsa.org/donate
- Go see the "Forged by Steele" documentary on Sunday, March 29!
- Stay open! All are welcome in cowboy culture.
As Mack Kirksey said simply: "I am who I am." That kind of grounded authenticity is exactly what our world needs more of.
Forged By Steele Documentary
The story of the Milwaukee Buffalo Soldiers Association is being told in the upcoming film: Forged by Steele with a March 29, 2026 premiere. It is a documentary that highlights their journey, horses, heritage and mission.Sunday, March 29
3:00-4:00 p.m.
The Oriental Theatre
2230 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202
🌐: www.mkebsa.org
