When I was just a young lad around 10 years old, I remember well admiring one of my older brothers, Eddie, as he rode large horses on a local ranch here in Jefferson County, Florida. It was the King Meredith ranch, and they had beautiful Appaloosa horses. Hoover Lawrence and some of my other uncles would break in wild stallions on local plantations in Lloyd, Florida, and once they were tamed, they would have impromptu races. I was amazed at the girt and finesse of these aspiring equestrians.
Imagine horse races on dirt tracks at ranches and plantations here in the rural south. During that era, they might as well have been in the grand master competitions of them all…you know, the Preakness, the Belmont Stakes or even the mother of all horse races...the Kentucky Derby. But that would be unheard of, right? Black men riding thoroughbred horses in those type premiere equestrian events? Is that even conceivable?
Greg Harbut, an African American horse owner participating in this year’s Derby, was asked by civil rights activists to withdraw in order to protest the police killing of Breonna Taylor. Harbut told CNN that despite supporting the demonstrators’ platform, he was not willing to give in to their demands, but rather he would participate to bring attention to the historical role black jockeys, horse trainers, buglers, and horse handlers played in helping to lay the foundation for the sport. Harbut went further to say “obviously, its extremely emotional because this is a race my grandfather participated in in 1962…and he was not allowed to be listed nor attend the Derby”.
The 2020 Kentucky Derby was the 146th of its kind. The competition was held in September instead of May due to COVID 19. The race is one of the three legs of the American Triple Crown, open to three-year old Thoroughbreds. A horse named Authentic won the coveted event this time. He was rode by John Velazquez, a Puerto Rican. Yes, that is good, but were there ever any black champion jockeys?
One of the more spectacular tidbits in sports history to me is the realization that the very first winner of the Kentucky Derby was a negro. His name was Oliver Lewis. According to Brittanica.com, race relations in the United States have also been reflected in African Americans’ participation in the Derby. In the 1870s, when the race debuted, black jockeys dominated organized racing, and African Americans won 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbies. I am of the belief that these men had the skills of horse handling, conceptualization, calculation, and personal fortitude to see such unfathomable possibilities.
Out of curiosity, I researched several other websites, books, and periodicals. Paradoxically, I found that the majority of them do not even mention that the first winners of either of the triple crown horse racing events were negros. For instance, I visited KentuckyDerby.com and learned that as a test of skills and sportsmanship the Derby began as Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark formed the Louisville Jockey Club; he acquired land for a racetrack from his uncles John and Henry Churchill. Clark was the grandson of William Clark – of the famed pair Lewis and Clark. He traveled to Europe in 1875 and became enthralled with horse racing ever since.
On a related note, during all of our years of scholastic achievement, most grade school kids are required to learn and be tested on the frontier expeditions of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, but not about York, the negro slave who accompanied them on every step of their discoveries. Historians and other scientists confirm that York served as a scout, field guide, horse handler, and interpreter for Lewis and Clark, since he spoke and understood several Native American (Navajo, Comache, Sioux) tribes’ languages, cultures and traditions. Should American school kids learn much more about black jockeys and frontiersmen?
Erick Johnson’s vignette within the Crusader magazine notes that in front of the Clubhouse Gardens of Churchill Downs is a statue of Aristides, the famous horse who won the first Kentucky Derby in 1875. There is no statue though of Oliver Lewis, the black jockey who made it happen. Ten years after Congress abolished slavery with the 13th Amendment, Lewis won a Kentucky Derby race where 13 out of 15 jockeys were black. For nearly the next two decades African American jockeys won 15 of the first 28 Derbies when horseracing was the nations’ most popular sport.
I am glad to report that Oliver Lewis and other black jockeys are recognized in the Aristides Lounge at Churchill Downs. Additional Black winners of the Kentucky Derby showcased there are: Oliver Lewis, Willie Walker, George Lewis, Babe Hurd, Isaac Murphy, Erskine Henderson, Alonzo Clayton, James ‘Soup’ Perkins, Willie Simms, and Jimmy Winkfield. Perhaps it’s time these little-known history facts be required by school boards to become part of the regular curriculum of secondary schools around the nation. Ride on baby, ride on.
Respectfully,
Gene Hall
Monticello, Florida