African Americans of Horse Racing

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: United States
Surnames/tags: African-American Black Heritage Slavery

In the early years of racing, African American jockeys dominated the sport. Nevertheless, their contributions are not widely known outside of the racing industry.

This page is to list, identify and connect the people whose skill and effort established and shaped the sport, including not only jockeys, but trainers, farriers and owners.

• Anthony Allen^[1]
• Dudley Allen
• Edmund Lincoln Anderson ^[2]
• George B "Spider" Anderson^[3]
• Paul Peter Barber^[4]
• Shelby D "Pike" Barnes^{[5] [6]}
• Sylvia Bishop ^[7]
• Elzey Booker
• Tom Britton ^[8]
• James Brooks^[9]
• Edward Dudley "Brown Dick" Brown
• Cato (enslaved by John Campbell, given freedom for his in 1839 ^[10]wins
• William Francis "Jelly" Caulder ^[11]
• Joh C Chivis ^[12]
• Elmer S Clark Jr.^[13]
• John T Clay 1859-1934
• Theodore H Clay Sr. ^[14]
• Alonzo Clayton^[15]
• George Coleman^[16]
• Raleigh Colston ^[17]
• Jess Conley ^[18]
• Henry Covell ^[19]
• Ellen Davis ^[20]
• Howard Preston Dawson Jr. ^[21]
• Arnold "Dobie" Dickerson ^[22]
• Oscar Dishman Jr. ^[23]
• Edward Duval ^[24]
• Anthony "The Black Demon" Hamilton ^[25]
• H C Harris ^[26]
• Silas Harris ^[27]
• John Hathaway ^[28]
• Abe Hawkins^{[29] [30]}
• William L Hawkins ^[31]
• Erskine Henderson ^[32]
• Peter Lee Hensley^[33]
• Fred Hokins ^[34]
• Babe Hurd ^[35][36]
• James Lee^[37]
• Garrett Davis Lewis ^[38]
• Isaac E Lewis^[39]
• Oliver Lewis ^[40]
• Henry Mack
• Isaac Burns Murphy 1861-1896 ^[41]
• James "Soup" Perkins 1880-1911^[42]
• Abraham Perry ^[43][44]
• Willie Simms ^[45]
• Cassius Clay Tankersly ^[46]
• Billy Walker ^[47]
• Ansel Williamson ^[48]
• Edward D Willis ^[49]
• Jimmy Winkfield ^[50]

Places

• Harlem Race Track ^[51]

• Horsemen who lived in Pralltown (Lexington) ^[52]
• African American Cemetery no 2

419 East Seventh Street Lexington, Kentucky

http://www.africancemeteryno2.org/ http://www.africancemeteryno2.org/horsemen-of-the-bluegrass To date there are nineteen jockeys/race riders, twenty-six trainers, thirteen grooms, forty hostlers, forty-three horsemen, two foremen, three exercisers, and five stable hands interred in African Cemetery No. 2, Lexington. Thoroughbred Trainers (24) French Brooks 1861-1943 • Harry Brown ?-1890 • Edward Caldwell 1863-1912 • General Carter 1865-1936 • Oliver D. Chambers 1842-1909 • June Collins 1860-1930 • Polk Drake 1852-1889 • Moses Dupee 1832-1901 • Ben Forrest 1877-1931 • John H. Forrest, Jr. 1864-1903 • Austin Harris 1874-1902 • James Hoskins 1886-1927 • Howard Jefferson 1857-1900 • Thomas Johnson 1866-1924 • John Montgomery 1882-1930 • George Morton 1862-1906 • Frank Perkins 1871-1900 • *Abraham Perry 1842-1908 • Henry Roberts 1862-1922 • Harry Thompson 1888-1928 • Charlie O. Walker 1889-1947 • David Wilkerson 1879-1920 • Charles Williams 1867-1895 • Isaac Williams 1876-1930

• Trainer, 1885 Kentucky Derby winner

Standardbred Trainers (4) Jackson Brown 1826-1885 • Nelson Cleveland 1861-1911 • Walker Hughes 1888-1927 • John Jacob Perkins 1856-1913

Foremen (2) Matt Clarke 1856-1917 • William Keys 1887-1929

Exercisers (4) Malcolm Ayers 1865-1941 • William Henry Bates 1909-1928 • Cecil Green 1910-1932 • Robert Lee McCoy 1914-1915 Riders/Jockeys (20) Thomas "Tommie” Britton 1870-1901 • James Brooks 1888-1904 • Clarence Bryant 1878-1899 • Robert Bryant 1882-1895 • James Carter ?-1925 • Scott Gill 1878-1895 • Robert Isom 1879-1897 • James Juison 1874-1897 • George'Amos Knox 1860-1906 • *Oliver Lewis 1856-1924 • Austin Morton 1897-1917 • *Isaac Murphy 1861-1896 • *James "Soup” Perkins 1880-1911 • Frank Ross 1895-1903 • Joseph Scott 1875-1891 • Charles Suter 1884-1900 • Cassius Clay Tankersley 1866 -1886 • Jacob Trotter 1883-1909 • John Warfield 1873-1894 • James H. Wilson 1850-1897

• Kentucky Derby winning jockeys

Stable Hands (4) Dick Coleman 1868-1906 • Jim Dandy 1874-1901 • J. Runyon 1864-1895 • Charlie Witherspoon 1878-1905

Grooms (13) Smith Bones 1897-1927 • Albert Buston 1874-1895 • Ansel Cohn 1872-1926 • William M.C. Davis 1883-1932 • Russell Green 1889-1925 • Henry Jones 1879-1928 • Octie Keys 1884-1929 • Clarence Matthews 1883-1929 • Henry Slaughter 1871-1924 • George Washington 1879-1922 • Aaron M. Webster 1887-1905 • Edward Withrow 1877-1931 • Braxton Woodard 1867-1932

Horsemen (40) Louis Butler 1877-1929 • Chester Campbell 1887-1924 • Harry Carpenter 1853-1923 • Henry Chambers 1877-1920 • Peter Allen Cohn 1861-1937 • James Coleman 1865-1924 • Billy Curd 1865-1920 ^[53]

Sources

1. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2899
2. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/edmund-lincoln-anderson
3. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/george-b-spider-anderson
4. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/851
5. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2701
6. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/shelby-barnes
7. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/sylvia-bishop
8. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2626
9. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/3124
10. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2105
11. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2684
12. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/300003641
13. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2724
14. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2349
15. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/662
16. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1502
17. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/raleigh-colston-sr
18. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2104
19. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2921
20. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1964
21. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2889
22. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/3069
23. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/663
24. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2929
25. ↑ https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/jockey/anthony-hamilton
26. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2425
27. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/300003664
28. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1999
29. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/abe-hawkins
30. ↑ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashland_Plantation#Abe_Hawkins
31. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/81
32. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1908
33. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2060
34. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2314
35. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/babe-hurd
36. ↑ https://www.kentuckyderby.com
37. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2000
38. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/garrett-davis-lewis
39. ↑ “Lewis, Isaac E.,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed November 18, 2022, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1907.
40. ↑ https://kchr.ky.gov/Hall-of-Fame/Pages/Oliver-Lewis.aspx
41. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Burns-Murphy
42. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/james-perkins
43. ↑ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Perry#:~:text=Abraham%20%22Abe%22%20Perry%20%281842-1908%29%20was%20an%20American%20thoroughbred,to%20be%20mentioned%20in%20post-race%20reports.%20Racing%20career
44. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/abraham-perry
45. ↑ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Simms
46. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113724898/cassius-clay-tankersly : accessed 12 February 2022), memorial page for Cassius Clay Tankersly (unknown–27 May 1886), Find a Grave Memorial ID Find A Grave: Memorial #113724898, citing African Cemetery #2, Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, USA ; Maintained by Squad546 (contributor 47281460) .
47. ↑ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Walker_(jockey)
48. ↑ https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/research/people/ansel-williamson
49. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1971
50. ↑ https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/winkfield-jimmy-1882-1974/
51. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2254
52. ↑ https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/300004259
53. ↑ https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=169816

See also:

• https://web.archive.org/web/20060617091424/http://bourbonlibrary.org/aahistory_thoroughbreds.htm
• https://thelpsf.org/african-american-jockeys-and-the-kentucky-derby/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20180507153430/http://www.africancemeteryno2.org/Home/horsemen
• https://wfpl.org/curious-derby-what-happened-to-black-jockeys/
• https://africanamericanhorsestories.org/explore/stories/notable-partnerships-winning-teams-despite-discrimination