Aloha Rodeo

David Wolman, Julian Smith

Traces the role of three Hawaiian cowboys who became champions at the 1908 Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo, detailing how their careers influenced post-annexation Hawaiian identity, island ranching, and the rodeo culture of Cheyenne. August 1908. Three unknown riders arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming to compete in the world's greatest rodeo. Steer-roping virtuoso Ikua Purdy and his cousins Jack Low and Archie Ka'au'a had traveled 4,200 miles from Hawaii to test themselves against the toughest riders in the West. Dismissed by whites, who considered themselves the only true cowboys, the native Hawaiians would astonish the country, returning home champions-- and American legends. Wolman and Smith show that the three paniolo were in fact the product of a deeply engrained Hawaiian cattle culture. The young Hawaiians brought the pride of a people struggling to preserve their cultural identity and...