we are stardust's picture

    Where Did All the Black Jockeys Go?

    It’s Derby Day, and the Belles and Gents from all over are already getting dressed in their finery and mixing their vats of mint juleps to haul along, though I’d guess that the image I might have of tail-gate parties may be a bit too ‘down-class’ for the parking lots at Churchill Downs in Lou’vlle (gotta say it like ya have enlarged tonsils, remember…).

    In the afternoon the crowds of dapper men and spectacularly-hatted women will at least pretend to be singing the old song which starts like this; and will bring a tear to many an eye:

    The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
    'Tis summer, the darkies are gay;
    The corn-top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
    While the birds make music all the day.

    Taking a hard turn away from the 'gay darkies' trip, a century later some folks are asking what really happened to erase them from the Derby and most big races so completely.  Richard Watkins writing at the Root has some answers based on a newspaper article found by a researcher in Washington DeeCee. 

    In 1875 the first Derby’s entrants were all ridden by black jockeys except for one; blacks won 15 of 28 big races at Churchill Downs that year.  It was a time when the first black sports heroes came to the fore, begun when plantation owners put up young and light slaves on their horses, sometimes even tying them into the saddle, a viciously dangerous thing to do.

    Kenneth Whisenton discovered a piece in the NYT that shed a lot of light on their disappearance by the turn of the century:

    “As the Thoroughbred horse-racing industry grew in America, so did the size of the winning purses and the prosperity of black jockeys. Less talented and envious white riders conspired to get in on the take."

    Whisenton has uncovered a New York Times article from 1900 with the headline, "Negro Jockeys Shut Out: Combination of White Riders to Bar Them From the Turf." The article begins, "The decline of the negro jockey has been so apparent since the season of 1900 opened that even the casual racegoer has had an opportunity to comment upon it.

     "The public generally accepted the theory that the old-time favorites of African blood had outgrown their skill, and really were out of date because of their inability to ride up to their form of past years," the article continues. "Racing men know better. As a matter of fact, the negro jockey is down and out, not because he could no longer ride, but because of a quietly formed combination to shut him out."

    The article explains just how the union took hold and became an effective means of depriving black jockeys of their incomes: " ... white riders have organized to draw the color line. In this they are said to be upheld and advised by certain horse owners and turfmen who have great influence in racing affairs. Rumor even went so far as to state that The Jockey Club approved the plan, tacitly and unofficially."

    Unionized Jim Crow 

    Whisenton says, "Now, if that isn't the very definition of institutional racism at its ugliest, I don't know what is. Remember, this was a time when the Jim Crow era began to take hold." The Times describes how white riders enforced their ban on black jockeys through sabotage and subterfuge: "The negro riders got mounts at first, but then failed to win races. Somehow or other, they met with all sorts of accidents and interference in their races."   (my bold) 

     There are some brief bios of the great black jockeys of the era like Willie Simms, and some of their attempts at extending their careers by racing in Europe, in some cases very successfully and lucratively.  It’s not clear if it were the white jockeys who drove the issue, or other players were involved; we may never know.  But it’s interesting to think about on Derby Day.  And if that may have been the time when black jocks were consigned to lawn decorations and horse-hitching.

    The piece gives no clue as to the number of black riders nationwide now, and I only spent a minute poking around, and found this page which said that one Derby rider in 2000 would have been the first black jockey in 79 years.  His name was St. Julien.

                                                     

    I love the dickens outta Outkast for turning the tables on that history, and stealing the lawn jockeys to pimp back.   Cool  It's a play on 'The Beatles on Ed Sullivan' riff.

    Comments

    "I'll take a drive to Bevery Hills just before dawn
    and knock the little jockeys off the rich peoples lawn
    and before they get up, I'll be gone"

    -Frank Zappa


    Damn; what a great songline, Des!  That Zappa rules...

    (When I was hunting images, I actaully found some who'd had their faces whitewashed.  Good God all Friday.)


    Amazing. All my life I've seen lawn jockeys as a symbol for the racist hierarchy of the old South. You would have thought I'd have some sense of the history of that symbol. But no, Stardust, it wasn't until this timely blog fetched my attention that the pieces clicked together, as often happens when I happen to check in on dablog or firedoglake and read your work.

    I've been drawn deeper into this topic we call "race relations" of late, and hope to share a related post in the coming days. Thank you Stardust for staying tuned. Great music video!!


    Nice to see you, Watt.  Welcome.  Looking forward to your piece.  A reader at my.fdl put up this Ebony link, and it says a slave jocky could earn enough to purchase his or his family's freedom.  Though it is hard to picture in actuality.

    Dunno how they made Andre Benjamin into so many musicians in that video, but it really is so much fun; and that grin!  Love when the grammy finally rocks out!


    Excellent post. Two great books about the black jockeys are "The Great Black Jockeys" by Edward Hotaling and "Black Maestro: The Epic Life Of an American Legend" By Joe Drape. "Jockeys" details the history of multiple Black jockeys. "Maestro" tells the story of Jimmy Winkfield, the last black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. Wingfield fled to Russia and then Paris after the Russian Revolution.

    If you ever go to the Clinton Library, there is an area called Argenta close by with several excellent restaurants. One restaurant, "Ristorante Capeo", is literally across the street from the home built by a famous Black jockey, Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton. The home, completed in 1895, was described as the finest home on the north side in it's time. A small commemorative plaque marks the home today.

     

     


    Good on the books, rmrd.  The Watkins piece told a bit of the Winkling story:

    "Winkfield made and lost several fortunes. In Russia he lived in the Moscow National Hotel, owned a skating rink and held 4 percent of Russian railroad stock. He developed a fondness for caviar at breakfast and chauffeur-driven Duesenberg cars. Legend had it, if you were an American tourist and bet on a race that he did not win, you simply brought your betting ticket stubs to the hotel dining room, where he would buy them back.

    Winkfield's escapades included narrow escapes during the Russian Revolution and the Nazi invasion of Paris during World War II. He survived and prospered until the ripe old age of 93. He died quietly at his horse-breeding farm at Maisons-Laffitte, near Paris, in 1974."

    Gotta love the legend in bold.  ;o)  And the Ebony piece was based on Hotaling work, I think.

    And damn; it's Derby Day, and I don't even know who's running.  Racing's a guilty pleasure for me, and I've read every book Dick Franics ever wrote (and other authors, too).  He used to ride for the Queen, both flat and steeple-chase.  ;o)


     And Animal Kingdom wins, with  Johhny Velasquez riding; looked like by about eight lengths.


    Latest Comments