News — World record

He won his first title in 2015 when he was a 19-year-old high school senior. Since then, Ezekiel Mitchell has won more than five titles as a professional bull rider. However, Michell has his eyes set on the big prize — to be the first Black cowboy to win a world title in bull riding in nearly four decades. The first Black person to win the world bull riding title was Charles Sampson in 1982.

Another big motivation for the aspiring champ is, he sees this career as a gateway to get his family out of poverty.

Mitchell has found a family in the community of bull riders and is the star of a limited Snapchat series, Life By the Horns, which chronicles the life of a rising Black bull rider, currently ranked 32nd on the Professional Bull Riders, the world’s premier bull riding circuit.

The 10-episode docuseries which premiered on February 20, according to Mitchell, is to “bring awareness to how much we love and care for our animals” and a full-on show of bravery on display as he encounters 1,500 lb. bulls.

There have been others who are still not accepting of the fact that a talented young Black athlete just wants to play a sport he loves. Mitchell does not let the negative remarks get to him.

“They’d ask me why I was wearing boots, and I’d tell them I was a cowboy,’’ he said. “And they’d be like, ‘There’s no such thing as a Black cowboy. You can’t be a Black cowboy.’ “

On the contrary, Mitchell has been a cowboy since he can remember. While all the kids would rush for the latest sneakers, the now 23-year-old preferred to rock his cowboy boots.

Growing up in a large family with 11 siblings in Baytown, Texas, things were hard especially after his parents got a divorce and he had to toggle between homes.

Determined to get into the rodeo, a predominantly white sport, Mitchell began asking his family members about the sport, but no one could help. “I didn’t have anybody in my immediate family that I could talk to or ask any questions about it,” he told PEOPLE.

His parents were also against him venturing into a dangerous sport but the passion to know more and explore the rodeo world was stronger than the fear many tried to put in him.

He eventually turned his attention to YouTube and taught himself the ins and outs of bull riding. His computer lab teacher at Bayton also pointed him to literature in the library on the dense history of Black rodeo riders sitting on dusty shelves. It was at that point that Mitchell knew he has a good shot at the sport regardless of his present circumstances.

He began training with a small bull and a homemade bucking barrel with a car suspension that simulates the actions of a bull. His cousin gifted him with his first horse, ‘Two Socks’, when he was 12. He steadily worked his way up through the rodeo. He aims to get the PBR world title and enough money to get his family out of poverty.

Mitchell is well on his way there thanks to Max Maxwell, a self-proclaimed North Carolina-based real estate mogul who took an interest in Mitchell after seeing him on a Vice show in 2018.      

Unlike other athletes, professional rodeo riders do have huge endorsement deals and all their cross-country trips are mostly self-funded. Maxwell worked his way into becoming Mitchell’s agent and primary sponsor, according to GQ.

He later enlisted the services of Dave Harding, a filmmaker and photographer to help boost Mitchell’s brand and get him endorsements because his salary can take him so far. “I just don’t ever want to be broke again,” Michell said.     

All Mitchell needs to do is break the almost 40-years jinx and win the PBR world title. With his brand growing, Mitchell may never be broke again and of course, he has dreams of retiring early knowing how dangerous the sport is.

“Imagine it: The black bull-rider who avoids major injuries, wins a title and millions of dollars, and then seamlessly transitions to something even grander. It’s the dream: the cowboy riding off into the sunset with nothing left to prove.”

“Art is all I’ve ever known” are the words of the new record holder for the world’s largest drawing by an individual. Dyymond Whipper-Young’s artwork covers 6,507 square feet, beating the previous record held by Italy’s FRA! by 400 square feet.

The Philadelphia-based artist told RNBPhilly that she was recommended by a substitute art teacher in her school for the Crayola-sponsored art project. This project was meant to hype and be a prelude to the company’s new installment titled, “Crayola IDEAworks: The Creativity Exhibition” housed at the Mandell Center at The Franklin Institute. The organizers specifically looked for a Philadelphia based artist to work with.

It took five days, a whopping 63 hours, and only one type of marker; Whipper-Young started with the black Crayola Project XL Markers and used 57 of them to create the giant-sized doodle art piece.

“I believe that creativity is in all of us and with this exhibition and the drawing, the purpose is to inspire people to find their creative pulse,” Whipper-Young said in a video sent to the press.

FRA!’s drawing was in 2020 and it covered 6,100 square feet. Whipper-Young’s work covering the floor of the Franklin Institute has now made history covering 6,507 square feet.

“Everything you see in this drawing is a reflection of what’s in Crayola IDEAworks,” Whipper-Young said in the video. “It has sea, it has land, it has space. You’ll really get to experience those things once you’re in IDEAworks.”

The immersive exhibition, which originally covers 17,000 square feet, allows visitors to do “interactive challenges that hone their skills,” Crayola IDEAworks writes on its website. “The four sections in this area, I, D, E, and A, will feature questions and puzzles that will determine creative strengths.”

Crayola collaborated with the Franklin Institute as the latter aims to “inspire and empower” everyone no matter their age to get in tune with their creativity and feed their curiosity.

On how she got the gig, Whipper-Young said it all started with a direct message from one of the organizers of the exhibition. After a conference call with the Franklin Institute and Crayola executives, the young artist got the gig. She admits she would not have otherwise tried out for such a project if she had to audition for it because she thought “it was too big” for her.

“I always told everybody that if I saw that opportunity, I would never have applied, God dropped that thing right in my lap because I would have thought it was too big.”

According to Whipper-Young, she later realized the size was not even an issue because everything worked out perfectly.

The Temple alum who is originally from Baltimore went straight to art school after elementary school. She was 11 years old at the time. She trained in fine arts in high school and studied all forms of art and now works as an art teacher and freelance artist.

The art teacher is currently working on a sculpture that will feature her famous ‘twerking sculpture’ which she made when she was in high school. She is all for making museum-worthy art but according to her, hers is a cross-section between fine art and Black culture.