[5][6] The members of the Rodeo Caldonia were inspired by other performance collectives, such as the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the 1940s integrated, all-women big band, Sweet Honey in the Rock, all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble, and the New York-based Black women’s dance group, Urban Bush Women.
[7] While an active organization, the collective produced two plays Carmella & King Kong and Combination Skin and one poetry revue, “Welcome to the Black Aesthetic,” that was not publicly performed.
Lisa Jones recalled that the group was “taken to task” for including photographs of “bare black breasts” next to an image of Fannie Lou Hamer.
[15] Rodeo Caldonia artists over the years included several Black women artists who were writers, actors, and musicians:[1][16][17][18] In 2015, collective co-founders Lisa Jones and Alva Rogers reminiscent with cultural critic Greg Tate at an event titled "Remembering Rodeo Caldonia" at the Pillow Cafe Lounge in Brooklyn.
[19][20] The history of Rodeo Caldonia was included in the 2017 travelling exhibition and accompanied sourcebook, We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-1985, sponsored by the Brooklyn Museum.
[21][22] The California African American Museum hosted a talk called "The Life and Times of Rodeo Caldonia".