Lawn jockeys have been a fixture at many farms, racetracks, and even at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. For most people inside horse racing, they are a vehicle for the silks painted on them, often commemorating a stable or particular race.
But what's the origin story behind these objects?
There are a few stories out there about the beginnings of the statues – of which there have been a few different styles through the years. The National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg, Va., hosted a round table of noted historians in October 2021 to discuss the statues' history – and the myths surrounding them. Turns out, we know more about where they didn't come from than where they did come from.
There are three basic molds of items that have been called “hitching posts,” “lawn jockeys,” or “iron jockeys” through the years. The older molds were originally made of zinc, later cast iron, and even later in concrete. It's hard to trace how many of each type were sold since most do not include lot numbers or other identifying information.
The figures on the left and right of the image strip above are usually painted with black skin, while the figure in the middle may be painted with black, brown, or white skin. The figure in the center is the mold most commonly seen at many racetracks in the modern era.
One legend of the figure's history claims that it is a tribute to a boy who played a role in the Revolutionary War on Christmas 1776 during George Washington's famous crossing of the Delaware River as he led Continental Army troops to surprise German soldiers aiding British troops at their base in Trenton, N.J.
“The story is that there was a 12-year-old boy who was the son of an army teamster who was asked to hold the horses for the officers on the Pennsylvania side [of the river] until they came back the following day after the battle,” said Mary Thompson, research historian at George Washington's Mt. Vernon. “The little boy's name was supposedly Jocko Graves. He was left holding the horses on the Pennsylvania side of the river. The night, as everyone knows, was very cold and icy and he froze to death before the people had gotten back. He froze to death holding the reins of the horses he'd been left to take care of.
“George Washington was said to be so moved by his steadfastness that he ordered a statue to be made of that young man. We've investigated this story, as have the staff at Washington's Crossing and found nothing to substantiate this story.”
In fact, Thompson said, there's no evidence Washington commissioned any kind of statue at his Mt. Vernon home beyond the dove of peace on the weathervane above the house.
What's more, the timeline of the statue's creation doesn't fit with this. The earliest version of the jockey hitching post, shown at the far left, wasn't created until the 1850s or early 1860s, and the other two came along even later. The panel noted the figure is shown standing on a bale of cotton, which also wouldn't make sense with the location of the event in the legend.
This origin timeframe also throws into question the other popular myth about lawn jockeys – that they were once used as signals to travelers on the Underground Railroad. According to Kenneth Goings, professor emeritus in the Department of African American and African Studies at The Ohio State University, the first version of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1793 required an owner to chase after escaped enslaved people. Not many were willing to hit the road north to actually do that. In 1850 a new version of the act came along that allowed slave owners to hire bounty hunters to chase down enslaved persons, which complicated their journey to freedom – and spurred the organization of the Underground Railroad, an organized network of safe houses and volunteers called “conductors” who could help assist in escape.
The network did often rely on covert messaging to help conductors and formerly enslaved persons escape detection – but lawn jockeys probably weren't part of that system.
“These bounty hunters were professional people catchers who made their living doing this,” said Goings. “Now, if the slaves and the conductors could see these outside, why wouldn't the bounty hunters be able to?
“In addition, I have read dozens of biographies and autobiographies from enslaved people who escaped and from the conductors who took them north and never once is there a mention of these statues.”
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.The myth of the statues is sometimes accompanied by the notion that a conductor would tie a green ribbon onto the statue if it was safe for someone to enter, and a red one if it was not safe to stop – but the red/green signaling system, besides being simplistic and easy for an observer to crack, most likely came from the railroad, which wasn't widespread until the 1870s.
It's likely the mold on the far left was in existence pre-Civil War. Records indicate the one in the middle, which is most familiar to racing fans, was copyrighted in 1871. The name of the statue in catalogues that sold it during that timeframe was sometimes given as the “Cavalier Spirit.” This branding fits with a narrative that became popular in Southern states post-Civil War, Goings said. In the Reconstruction era, many people bought into the idea of the Old South versus the New South, with the idea that the New South was a re-branded version of the region.
“One of the values of the special civilization was the value of truth and honor, hence the name the Cavalier,” said Goings. “This young man is the symbol of truth and honor.
“They needed to convince the North they could take care of race relations on their own; they were honorable people, trustworthy people. If the North would just quit bothering them, things would be fine.”
These statues have been found painted with a variety of skin tones and silks colors, and are often repainted, so historians aren't clear how they appeared when originally sold, or when and why someone may have changed the jockey's race or outfit. It's unclear whether the depiction of the rider changed to correlate with the rise and fall of Black jockeys in American horse racing.
The version at the far right became popular between the 1920s and 1950s, around the time Black people became a larger part of the workforce and gained more consumer power.
“These objects I see as an attempt to show African Americans as comical, miniature human beings, not serious,” said Goings. “But also very importantly, still happy to be working for the master. It's as if the old slaves are still around in the guise of these new workers.”
The newer two versions of the lawn jockey started being made in concrete after the second World War and became even more common. Goings said they were all marketed to white people.
So what was their actual purpose, historically speaking?
While all three are ostensibly holding rings and referred to as hitching posts, panelists expressed doubt that zinc or even concrete versions would actually be heavy enough to ground a horse. Most horse people would point out that the objects aren't tall enough to be a convenient anchor for horses, other than perhaps to mimic a ground tie for a Western-trained horse.
“I understand the ones that were made from zinc were often called 'signs,'” said Carol Grissom, senior objects conservator at the Smithsonian Institution. “They would put them on a rolling platform and move them out of a shop to indicate what the shop had, and then rolled them back inside at night. Those are very similar to a tobacco store Indian in usage.”
The myths surrounding the objects' history – and the variation in people's knowledge of myth versus reality – can mean that different people regard them differently. Goings said they remind him of historical racism, whether they're painted to look like white jockeys or not – and he believes that's true for many other people, also.
Claudia Pfeiffer, deputy director and George Ohrstrom Curator at the National Sporting Library and Museum, and Goings agree that racetracks likely don't display lawn jockeys with the intent to make anyone uncomfortable.
“They are decorative objects that have a positive lore,” said Pfeiffer. “I understand the broader context of it in the collecting world, but there is this lane in the middle that is looking at them as a celebration of racing heritage and racing history in particular, and they're not looking at it as a black or a white jockey so much as this is recognizing a particular race record or stable.”
Goings said that although the objects make him and others uncomfortable, he does not think they should be locked up.
“I for one strongly hope they're held in public collections because they give a good, very representative example of the changing nature of race relations and racial stereotypes in the United States,” he said. “They are historical artifacts. They are witnesses to history. In a sense, they were history makers. So they are worthy of being held and not destroyed. Many people out there believe that all Black collectibles, including these hitching posts, should be destroyed. I think that would be destroying a history that it's important we remember.”
Catch the full panel discussion replay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNDFDozfjRM
The post Washington And The Underground Railroad: Historians Say Myths About Lawn Jockey Origins Don’t Hold Up appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
