Rodeo Cowgirls.

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Rodeo Cowgirls, from Kodak.

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to preserve the history and impact of western women living roughly from the mid-1800s to the present Today, there are 176 amazing women who have been inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame since 1975.

2006 National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is proud to announce the 2006 Hall of Fame inductees. They will be honored during the 31st Annual Induction Luncheon Ceremony on Thursday, October 26, 2006 at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

The 2006 Inductees are as follows:

Minnie Lou Bradley
She was the first woman to receive a degree in animal husbandry from Oklahoma State University, formerly known as Oklahoma A&M, and the only female member of the Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Team. She paved a way for young girls to enter into the arena of livestock breeding and management programs. She was the first female president of the American Angus Association and the recipient of numerous awards for her vision and dedication to the improvement of beef cattle. As owner and operator of Bradley 3 Ranch, Bradley implements innovations into her ranching operations that gained her notoriety and recognition as a leader in the beef industry. And in helping share her passion for ranch work, she has partnered with the Ranch Management Program at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas for the past 46 years helping young men and women learn the ranching industry.

Sharon Camarillo
As an accomplished barrel racer, horsemanship clinician and four-time National Finals Rodeo contender, Camarillo made her mark on rodeo history in 1995 as one of the few select women to ever co-announce the prestigious Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Not only does Camarillo teach horsemanship clinics on barrel racing throughout the year, she wrote an industry-leading book on barrel racing called Training, Tuning and Winning.

Esther Hobart Morris (1814 – 1902)
Esther Hobart Morris, honored in Statuary Hall in Washington D.C. as a women’s suffrage leader, became the United States’ first female justice of the peace in 1870. Her influential efforts achieved the right for women to vote in the Wyoming Territory in 1869. Her triumph there set a course for equality that would not be fully realized in the rest of the United States until 51 years later with the passage of the 19th Amendment. She was a true pioneer for women.

Rose Cambra Freitas
Rose Cambra Freitas represents the best of Hawaiian cowboy or “paniolo” culture through sharing knowledge of western lifestyle with people of all ages. Recognized as one of Maui’s 100 most influential people in the past 100 years, Freitas co-founded the Maui All Girls and Junior Boys and Girls Rodeo Association, Hawaii’s only incorporated non-profit organization of its kind and has earned the respect of community and civic leaders across the island. She and her husband Raymond donate their private arena for horse shows and clinics to educate people in horsemanship and have been ranching in Makawao in Maui’s “upcountry” for more than 40 years.

Bonnie McCarroll
(1897 – 1929)
Bonnie McCarroll, a champion bronc rider, made rodeo history in 1922 by winning the cowgirl bronc riding championship at the two most prestigious rodeos in the nation, Cheyenne Frontier Days and the first Madison Square Garden Rodeo. Already an accomplished rodeo performer, McCarroll dazzled kings, queens, dignitaries, an American president and countless rodeo fans across the world. Her tragic death at the 1929 Pendleton Round-Up changed the face of women’s rodeo.

“All five of these women set themselves apart from the crowd and distinguished themselves as true pioneers,” said Patricia Riley, executive director of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

Cowgirls

Alter, Judy, Extraordinary Women of the American West, New York, Children’s Press, a Division of Grolier Publishing Co., 1999.
Chronicles the exploits and achievements of more than 50 women in the past and present of America's West, including the guide and interpreter Sacajawea, journalist Jessie Benton Fremont and author Willa Cather.

Bennett, Virginia, editor, Cowgirl Poetry, Salt Lake City, Gibbs-Smith Publisher, 2001.
Presents classic poems that reflect the spirit of those who have gone before, while contemporary poems show cowgirls are still ridin’ tall in the saddle.

Flood, Elizabeth Clair, Cowgirls, Women of the Wild West, Santa Fe, Zon International Publishing Company, 2000.
Pays tribute to the life and legacy of the pioneer woman in the American West, including ranch women, Wild West show performers and those competing in the rodeo arena.

Farley, Ronnie, Editor, Cowgirls, Contemporary Portraits of the American West, New York, Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1995.
Highlights modern cowgirls – both on the ranch and in the arena.

Freedman, Russell, Children of the Wild West, New York, Ticknor & Fields: A Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983.
Presents a photographic record of the experiences of children of pioneer families and children who already lived in the Wild West – the Indian boys and girls of the day.

Jordan, Teresa, Cowgirls: Women of the American West, Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
Like her male counterpart, the American cowgirl rides and ropes, understands land and stock and confronts the elements. Jordan traveled 60,000 miles in the West, talking with authentic cowgirls to compile this portrait.

Kalman, Bobbie, Women of the West, Crabtree Publishing Company, 2000.
Describes the lives and experiences of women in the 19th-century North American west, including immigrants, African Americans and Native Americans.

Katz, William Loren, Black Women of the Old West, New York, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1995.
This book traces how African American women challenged white bigotry and labored to create new lives and ultimately helped transform the West.

LeCompte, Mary Lou, Cowgirls of the Rodeo: Pioneer Professional Athletes, Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1993.
Surveys the early rodeo cowgirls’ achievements s professional athletes, the near demise of women’s rodeo events during World War II and the phenomenal success of the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association in regaining lost ground for rodeo cowgirls.

Lucey, Donna M., Photographing Montana 1894-1928, The Life and Work of Evelyn Cameron, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.
Evelyn Cameron left her English home to become a rancher in Montana in the late 1800s; she used her photography skills to help support her family and captured Montana life in the process.

Luchetti, Cathy, with Olwell, Carol, Women of the West, New York, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
Through diaries, memoirs, letters and journals, as well as 150 period photos, Women of the West introduces 11 real frontier women to re-create a place and time in history.

Peavy, Linda, and Smith, Ursula, Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
Based on a number of independent stories, this book describes the hardships women endured journeying west and making homes and communities on the frontier.

Roach, Joyce Gibson, The Cowgirls, Denton, University of North Texas Press, 1990.
This book presents a history of the women of the West, telling of their contributions and describing how they broke convention by ranching, trail-driving and rodeoing.

Savage, Candice, Cowgirls, Vancouver, Greystone Books, 1996.
Focusing on the role of women in the American and Canadian West, this book is a survey of the cowgirl phenomenon from both a historical and a social perspective.

Stratton, Joanna L., Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier, New York, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1981.
Based on letters and photos of Kansas pioneer women and organized by such topics as the journey, settlement, daily life, relations with Indians and social life.

Web Manager Cheryl Gandy / e mail address: c_gandy@yahoo.com

Country Boyz Rodeos* Spencer * OK * 73084