Marlon St.Julien currently rides at Indiana Downs in Shelbyville,IN. I watched this man win 4 mounts in 8 races on Saturday night all the while making the night very special for my 2 year old daughter, waving to her before the races and giving her kisses on her head after winning each race, he also found time to pause for a picture with her. I don't care if Mr.St.Julien is black,white,yellow or green he is the epitome of what a professional jockey should be. Mr St.Julien is absolutely the friendliest person I have ever met in horse racing industry and he deserves every bit of respect he gets from publications written and should be very proud of his accomplishments not only as an African American, but, as a man. Someone out there needs to give him another shot at the Derby.

If we had a decent news media, these stories would not be swept under the rug. I recall that at one time most of the caddies in golf were black as well. The greats such as Jack Nicklaus all had black caddies. Now everytime I turn on a golf channel, all I see are white caddies, but they make millions of dollars now. Back in Nicklaus' day, that was not the case by any means. I think anytime monetary value of an occupation increased in those days, blacks got crowded out. When slavery ended and reconstruction was put down by the majority population, many of the skilled African American laborers were also pushed out of the better jobs. The labor unions and guilds would require that black recruits pay large fees to become members, so carpenters, plumbers and the like eventually became primarily white. Its part of the story of our nation, but as long as these things are conveniently not mentioned, young people never get a full sense of our history or who we really are or why things may be the way they are.

Fascinating story; as a long time thoroughbred race tracker (and a middle aged white man) I must say that I feel ashamed by the facts. Hopefully, this truth will will reveal itself to any young person contemplating a sporting career and motivate them to excel regardless of gender or race or nationality.

What about Angel Cordero? He is a black Puertorrican,an American citizen and one of the great jockeys in history.

This type of information should be taught in all schools at all grade levels.I really do not have any interest in the sport of horse racing,but I do love and have an interest in the truth.I am 47 years old,went to a junior college and a major college and never incountered this infomation in my life.Thanks.Each one, teach one. The truth is more powerful than a lie or omittion. THANK GOD!

For me if i do not do any kind of research i can not find out any inormation about the black jockies from history times, why is that i think that this is part of our history black and white.

I am a decendent of Oliver Lewis, winner of the first Kentucky Derby in 1875. Every year we have celebrated our Y.O Lewis family in different parts of the country. If anyone has any info or pictures, please advise as we would like this legacy to be acknowledged. Thank you.

My organization is IN THE WINNER'S CIRCLE introduce at risk to horsemanship.

I absolutely appreciate this information. I Co-Founder/CEO a nonprofit organization dedicated to introducing at risk youth to horsemanship. I would love to see more information about this. Thank You and keep up the good work.

I LOVE RACING, I LOVE THIS HISTORY. I CANT GET ENOUGH OF THIS. I ALWAYS WISHED THAT MY DAUGHTER COULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO WIN TH KY. DERBY.YOUNG BLACK WOMEN, GET TO TRAINING, YOU COULD MAKE HISTORY.

We should have a motion picture done on this RICH history. Everyone should know this proud history of "The Black Jockey"

Things I didn't know.

Very impressive!!

Why did his career end?

My father was a jockey. My family is unable to locate any information on him. If anyone can help us we would greatly appreciate it. His name was Autry(Spud)Delon Williamson. He raced in Frankfort, Illinois at the Triple R Ranch, Rio Rita Raceway, the horses name was "Braider" owner: John O'Brien. This was in 1965. He also raced at Gator Downs, Florida, horse "Inlets Priest", owner: D.B. Gilmour, year: 1971, Horse: "Cee Joe Love", Owner: l. Carroll, 1971 and Sunshine Park, Florida,horse: "Little Fox", owner: Jimmy G. Lipham, 1965. We may be asking the wrong people, if so please point us in the right direction. Our dad had 6 children and we don't no anything about him. Please help........

The nadir for black jockeys must have been in the 1940's and 1950's. In Nashville, Tenn. a major annual event of the "white genteel class" was "The Steeplechase"--an afternoon of horse racing, mostly including hedges that the horses had to jump over. One of the races on the program that didn't include jumps was the "Monkey Simon Mule Race." Need I say that it was black jockeys riding mules?

We have in our national park, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park,a Lyceum series where guest speakers come and give a talk on various subjects. About 2 months ago the speaker was a park ranger from Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Her talk was all about the first guides at Mammoth Cave. They were for the most part young black men. The ratio of blacks to whites at Mammoth Cave was similar to what the ratio of blacks to whites was in the Kentucky Derby. Like the Kentucky Derby the black men were pushed out of their jobs by white men. The history of that was buried until that park ranger dug into it and researched it and even found one of the descendants of one of the original guides and encouraged him to become a park ranger and now he is a park ranger at mammoth Cave. He leads hikes into the caves just like his ancestors. A fascinating story and another example of how accomplishments of black people seem to never end up in the history books.

Great history, our younger generation needs to know and celebrate our contributions.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INFORMATION, YOUR SKILLS AND TALENT i REALLY APPRECIATE, OUR KIDS MUST KNOW OUR HISTORY. tHANK YOU FOR USING YOUR TALENT(your "god" given talent),. My family and I deeply azppreciate you.Americans are blessed untoldly, especially African Americans that contributed so much forthe making of America "God bless and keep you"!

AS an African American of 66 years, I have great RESPECT for our culture/race.WE have contribute everything to this country OUR COUNTRY, in the words of that great world statesman Sir Winston Churchill when he said, when he told the world "WE HAVE,NOTHING TO GIVE BUT BLOOD, TOIL,TEARS,AND SWEAT." in World War 11,this WE have DONE from the slave fields of the SOUTH to every BATTLEFIELD that this country has fought IN from 1770 till 2010,even with an black president.

Thank you for enlightening the world on yet another significant contribution African Americans have made to this country. I happened upon this article while researching my uncle, who during his youth was a jockey.

There are so many Afri/American, un-told stories, about courageous men & women that need to be TOLD!So many talented & athletic Afri/Americans that never received credit because of the color of thier skin. And,also, during the Civil War the blacks were treated so terribly, and were denied their pensions..they had to fight for what was owed them & their families.Read the book "Men of Color,To arms!"by James Fuller (VT Afri/Amer in the civil war)Excellent book!
My gggrandfather was a jockey from Kentucky & moved to Saratoga Springs,NY in the early 1800's.He is mentioned in the history book,Black Jockey's of Saratoga.His son,George Speck/Crum was the inventor of the Potato Chip in Saratoga Springs,NY,1853.The Afri/Amer children should know more of their ancestry..and, be proud of where they came from & how far they can go!

There are so many things to think about here. Let's start with Afr-Am attitudes towards the "lawn jockey,"(oddly, a representation for this subject both more common and symbolic than photos or film), and a term of derision for black people in the US not very often used today. For the record, I am African-American, and over 35, but not over 70. The representation of the jockey that most often came to us was the cocoa-faced-painted lawn jockeys that we saw in the suburbs. I know what occurred to me when I went to whites' houses and saw this:

1) Are they trying to insult me?

2) Or, are they honoring the history of black jockeys?

3) Are they implying a status, either for themselves or blacks that the other group would agree with?

The questions were endless, and I knew that I didn't know enough about this subject. This article elucidates a point that talks me down from an automatic assumption of racism on other people's parts.

As blacks, we might've ignored or thrown out a valuable history of ourselves because of an immediate reaction to the "user's" use of the history rather than the history itself.

But whites and non-blacks can learn from this, too--the history of the USA and its citizens is so much more rich than we all give it credit for, and this is a perfect illustration. Thanks, Smithsonian.

I forwarded this article to my husband and son. This is a apart of history that I was not aware of. My husband's uncle worked for a horse farm for years. He was a foreman which was a very coveted position. It took years of hard work to get there. Thank-you for for giving us a part of our history that was omitted from all the history books.

Iam an AFRICAN AMERICAN, THE HISTORY ON AFRICAN AMRERICAN JOCKEYS IS GREAT FOR OUR LEARNING.

I really loved reading this article- kudos to The Smithsonian and Ms Winkler for bringing us this knowledge. It is unfortunate that the black jockeys of the past never realized they were on the forefoot of a sport that has been considered very exclusive, particularly during a time of racism, intolerance and violence. Miles Dean is a gem and has a wonderful story to tell- one that will continue to benefit all school children!

I definitely agree that this is a story that should be told to African American children...having pride in one's ancestors for their accomplishments is a wonderful and uplifting thing. It's time to focus on the triumphs instead of the tragedy of slavery. If we focus on the positive and see what others have accomplished, it can give us all hope for our own future!

Fascinating! I especially appreciate your effort of putting faces to the names and digging up their photographs from old newspapers.

Thank you for the education! I know this bit of history will never make the history books in the school system-public or private. Now, when I attend the event, I will have a little pride inside knowing that African-Americans/Black jockeys were at the forefront of this sport.

Thank you for reminding us of another piece of forgotten history.I wonder how many more hidden treasures of our past remain undiscovered by our present population.

Unfortunately, the article is not explicit on the demise of Black Jockeys. White Jockeys formed a union (with the approval of white owners, etc) that denied membership to Black Jockeys. This fact created the end of Black Jockeys at the Kentucky Derby although Black Groomers, walkers, etc continued until today. Blacks like St. Julien, who acknowledges his lack of history and aspires to be a role model to anyone who wants to race, is more of an accomodationist than the potential model of which he speaks. In order to become all that he can be, study of those who came before (technique, approach, preparation, etc., of the pioneering Black Jockeys is a prerequisite. Happy to be in and lauded as todays's exception is not enough.

I applaud the Smithsonian's fascinating article on african-american participation in the upper levels of horseracing. As a black american,I take special delight in discovering the contributions that have been made in unexpected areas of American culture by slaves, ex-slaves, and the children of slaves. The Smithsonian consistantly has cast, to my mind, the keenest eye on american culture.