Saturday marks the running of the Kentucky Derby. This week, with the help of The Little Known History Facts and other sources, the What We Need to Know Newsletter, will take a look at African Americans, especially the jockeys, that played a part in the history, especially made history in the Kentucky Derby.
The Kentucky Derby is an American horse race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old thoroughbreds at a distance of 1 1/4 miles.
From the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database:
The horse industry in Kentucky has generated billions of dollars for the state. Within Kentucky’s historical newspapers are the names of African American jockeys, trainers, and other horsemen who contributed to that industry. Their names can be found in relation to winning, losing, success, marriage, injury, death, crime, or some combination of each and all. While there are a lot of articles, they represent only a small portion of the total number of names; the majority of the men’s names were never in print until they died, after which, it may or may not have been mentioned that they were part of the horse industry.