Narrator: There is a story not often told about thoroughbred racing.

It is the story of horsemen, Black horsemen, who learned to handle and ride and love these beautiful champions of the turf and who would help build and come to dominate the industry for an entire century.

The legacy of the Black horseman is not just Black history, it's American history.

It's our story and it should be infused in the history of all that has been in the past.

And So, it's So, important, especially in the thoroughbred industry and what it has become.

If you're interested in thoroughbred racing, you have to be interested in Black horsemen because they are an indispensable part of the history and the present of the sport.

They were brilliant people because they were able to be successful despite the odds and despite the obstacles that were in front of them and that were confronting them.

When we look at the story of Black horsemen, Black jockeys, Black trainers that were So, prolific, especially at the early years of the Kentucky Derby in the 1800s is kind of that microcosm of what was happening in the United States of America at that time.

Narrator: Held as slaves, these horsemen would form a community whose knowledge and skill earned the respect of White owners during the time of slavery, and yet even still, they suffered outrageous cruelties.

Although the Civil War offered potential freedom, many of these slaves would support their masters to protect the horses, helping these beautiful animals and thoroughbred racing survive the ravages of war.

In the years following the Civil War, life for Black horsemen paralleled the challenging Social and economic status of African Americans throughout the country.

While constitutional amendments would remove legal barriers, racial discrimination was rampant.

At this time, the race track became an arena that allowed Black horsemen to compete and dominate racing.

In the inaugural Kentucky Derby, 13 of 15 jockeys were Black, including the winning horses' jockey and trainer.

But by the turn of the century, the continued success of Black horsemen would lead White horsemen to use violence and the spread of Jim Crow laws to force them out of the industry.

And although after 1921, the Kentucky Derby would not see another Black jockey for almost 80 years.

Generations of Black horsemen would continue working with thoroughbreds on the backside, taking pride in a history well earned.

Today, new faces are leading young Black people towards a future in the equine industry.

This is the Legacy of Black Horsemen.

[music playing] Voiceover: Funding for this program is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

[Music playing] Narrator: Throughout history, horse racing has been a human passion.

In the formative years of our country, the urge to test one's horse against another was no different.

Jockey clubs in many cities, including Lexington, Kentucky, would eventually grow to be the cultural center of the city and gathering place for horse owners to brag on and race their steeds.

Lexington would become known as the bluegrass home of thoroughbred racing and horse capital of the world.

A historical marker stands on the site of its first racetrack.

The competitions that took place were straight quarter-mile match races between two horses and an onlooking crowd.

It would not be until the early 1800s that the plantation system of the South, a slave economy, would build horse racing into the national pastime as it is known today.

Grandstands filled with cheering crowds watching dozens of horses as they break from the starting gate.

This was an economy based on the labor of Black slaves.

Horses were important to this agrarian society and the plantation owners discovered that the slave labor forced to handle farm animals could also serve as the foundation to a racing stable, and a successful racing stable would add to their fortune and their fame.

They started working with the horses to improve their breeding stock.

And the men who did that were the ones who owned a large number of enslaved people.

And the people that were assigned to care for these horses, to watch them, to breed them, to train them, to care for them, to raise them, African Americans.

southern plantation owners really treat racing as this sort of, it's a public demonstration of their success and their power and their achievement.

And racing actually really works for that, right?

Because the horse can be a proxy for your wealthy but you use your wealth to good effect.

And so, really, you deserve to have the things you have.

Narrator: One such owner was William Ransom Johnson of Chesterfield County in Virginia.

His racing stables provided So, many winners that he would earn the title, the Napoleon of the Turf.

And while it was his money and business acumen that allowed him to buy the horses that would earn him such a title, it was one possession, his slave named Charles Stewart who would do the actual work of organizing his racing stables.

Breeding and training his racing team, worked by a slave that would lead to success in the sport of Kings.

Charles Stewart starts out as a stable worker.

He ends up when he's about 10 or 11 being sold to William Ransom Johnson, who buys him because he thinks he might be talented with horses.

He really moves up very quickly into stable supervision.

So, he's a breeding supervisor, he's a foreman, and he actually has this really extraordinary life where, you know, he has his own home, he has a bank account, and that kind of expertise really gives him a certain amount of security and a certain amount of flexibility in his life that are really important to him.

Ronald Mack: What a lot of people don't know is that these gentlemen They were teenagers when they started out.

And So, there was a lot of creation of responsibility to handle the horses as a jockey, as trainers.

And their value was under-appreciated by even them.

Roda Ferraro: These enslaved men that spent most of their lives with horses enslaved, from stable hand to exercise rider, jockey and trainer, to have that kind of knowledge, experience from the 24x7 handling of horses, from childhood, the skill that these men would have had, really wouldn't have had a parallel.

Narrator: As a trainer, Stewart found himself in a position unique for a slave.

He had earned his owner's respect and trust in handling the day-to-day details of horse racing.

He was given the responsibility to oversee the other slaves working as grooms and jockeys.

He would personally advise William Johnson on training and racing decisions.

Johnson in turn would share some of his winnings with his Black trainer and Charles Stewart would save enough money to buy the woman he wanted to be his wife.

Johnson's dependence on Charles Stewart would grow to the point of allowing Stewart to travel by himself, a slave unguarded across state lines to what had become the breeding capital of the south, Kentucky.

He would make breeding and financial decisions for Johnson.

Katherine Mooney: Ultimately, he will be sent to Kentucky because Johnson wants to open this sort of satellite breeding farm in Kentucky and he sends Stewart to supervise it.

Voiceover: During his time in Kentucky, Stewart would meet the Great Compromiser, Henry Clay, who also raised horses at his estate, Ashland.

Henry Clay had become acquainted with Stewart's master and admired the steeds Stewart had trained and brought to Kentucky.

While a slave owner like Johnson, Henry Clay preferred to handle breeding decisions for his racing stable rather than depending on his slaves.

In 1806, Henry Clay would initiate an idea quite popular today of syndication with other horsemen in buying stallions to race and then breeding them for other owners.

Clay would stable two mares at Ashland whose bloodlines would extend to 11 Kentucky derby winners.

While it would sound as though trainers had a much better life than other slaves, they always knew they were still slaves.

They were able to travel, you know, they could leave the plantation, either with the owner or with the owner's permission.

There was no freedom there.

They couldn't take that horse and go off wherever they wanted and race it, they could not.

So, there was no freedom for the African Americans who were involved with the horses.

Only in the sense of the freedom that the owner allowed them, under his largest, because he knew if he treated that guy well, he will get on that horse and ride well.

Narrator: Slave owners in Kentucky also realized the importance of Black trainers to horse racing and their stables.

Captain Willa Viley would rely on a slave named Harry Lewis to train and develop his thoroughbreds for the racetrack.

Horse racing had grown from a straight quarter mile stretch to oval tracks designed and eventually built with grandstands to entertain racing fans.

In 1828, the Kentucky Racing Association was built in Lexington and the Oakland Race Course would soon follow in Louisville.

With these new oval tracks, racing distances were extended but much different from horse racing today.

So, you have just two horses instead of 20, like you do in the modern Kentucky Derby.

That's one difference.

Derby is a mile and a quarter.

This match race is what they call heat racing.

So, you'd race four mile heats, best of three heats if necessary.

So, horse had to win two heats.

Narrator: The resulting 12 miles or So, of racing called for stronger horses and stronger breeding.

In this painting, Harry Lewis is seen with the Great Richard Singleton, a horse named for a previous owner.

Lewis stands by the horse's side, proudly wearing a top hat, as owners wanted their trainers to dress well when their horses mounted up.

Yvonne Giles: They couldn't go to the races, all these race meets with the guys with the cutaway coats and the top hats and you have a raggedy jockey or you have a raggedy horse handler or a raggedy trainer, they wouldn't allow that.

They would want them to look decent.

Narrator: Harry Lewis's status as a slave to Captain Viley is always present as he is referred to as Viley's Harry.

Lewis's success as a trainer would lead Willa Viley to grant him his freedom.

But Viley still thought of Lewis as his trainer.

Katherine Mooney: Harry Lewis has probably the most incredible experience of being identified as a piece of property that I've read about, when he's still enslaved, his owner is dying and he goes to see him on his deathbed and the dying man rips a knife out from under his pillow and tries to stab him, and has to be restrained.

And he explains that he knows he's gonna die and he wants to kill Harry, So, Harry will go with him into the next world because he anticipates that they will be racing horses there.

Voiceover: While today, it is often the jockey who receives attention during a race.

It was not until 1839 that the first mention of a jockey, indeed, the first mention of any Black horseman was made in the national press.

This jockey's name was Cato.

Cato would win a match race designed to draw national attention to the newest major track in Louisville, Kentucky, Oakland Race Course.

Chris Goodlett: The Wagner and Grey Eagle match race was in 1839, I think it did solidify the City of Louisville as a place where racing could prosper and that people wanted to see and be part of thoroughbred racing.

Louisville racing goes back to the late 18th century.

We have racing, some that would be considered organized, some maybe not So, organized.

But Oakland Race Course is one of the first great racecourses in Louisville.

And one of the great races, probably one of the greatest races that had happened at Oakland Race Course was a match race between Wagner and Grey Eagle.

Narrator: Cato would ride a horse named Wagner, winning over the heavily favored Grey Eagle.

Cato and Wagner went pretty easily.

They won two heats to none on that day in 1839, I think it was in September.

So, Wagner went away the winner.

There was a rematch about a month later for that match race, a little bit closer, a little bit more competitive.

Wagner won again, but it had to go all three heats.

Narrator: Ironically, the only image of Cato that exists is a painting of him with a horse he defeated that day, Grey Eagle.

This etching is from one of many paintings by artist Edward Troye, who immigrated from Switzerland to the bluegrass looking for beautiful landscapes.

Instead, he discovered that painting thoroughbreds for owners to hang in their mansions was more lucrative.

For most artists, the owner would demand the Black horseman tending the horse to be kept out of sight or simply left off the painting.

It is only from the occasional painting by Edward Troye, when the owner would allow him to include the groom or trainer tending the horse that any images of Black horsemen from before the Civil War exist.

In a time before photography, Troye was able to preserve an image of Charles Stewart, the great trainer for the Napoleon of the Turf here documented in a painting with Johnson's Medley.

One famous work by Troye is of Tobacconist, owned by John Minor Botts of Virginia.

Once again, the Black horsemen in the painting are identified as slaves, as property, featuring the trainer, Botts’ Manuel, and the jockey, Botts’ Ben.

Clark Williams: This great sport that monetarily was so impactful, but the professionals to handle the product was a specialty of African Americans back then.

And So, even through slavery and that era, for that period of time, these people who handled the product were treated in, you know, in a way that was better than most slaves or post slavery back then, because their value was huge to those who were making a lot of money behind it.

Narrator: And although their lives on the plantation were better than the other slaves, these Black horsemen were still subject to the unusual cruelties of slavery.

Katherine Mooney: The very prominent racehorse owner John Minor Botts has a jockey, who was one of the great riders of his time, and a jockey might have to weigh as little as, say, 80 pounds.

So, what they would do was they would actually bury Ben up to his neck in the manure pile in the front yard and he would sweat, right?

There's a tremendous amount of heat that's conducted by the manure.

And John Minor Botts made it sort of an evening ritual that while he was buried in the manure pile, Botts himself would be sitting on the porch, usually having a nice drink.

Narrator: Other punishments were part of daily living.

Any slight or mishandling of a horse real or simply assumed by the master could result in a beating.

For many Black horsemen, one luxury of life was attending a day away from the plantation, at the races, tending the horses, and enjoying the festivities.

For some, it could end in horror.

Katherine Mooney: It's very common for bets to be not necessarily in cash, but for bettors to bet enslaved people against each other as a form of property.

So, it's entirely possible that you as an enslaved person could come home from a day out with your family and your friends and get home and be told, "Well, you've been sold."

Narrator: The stories of the mistreatment of slaves would help inspire the Abolition Movement to grow in the north and Washington could end down the road to Civil War while the nation watched a new Capitol building come together and take shape.

Voices grew angry tearing the nation apart.

One argument for southerners was to point to the accomplishments of these Black horsemen in thoroughbred racing as a rationalization and sign of the success of the plantation economy.

They use racing as this sort of showcase of this is what the plantation system has done, right?

And this is why it deserves to be undisturbed.

And also this is what the expertise and the labor of slaves can do.

And this is why we should be left to keep slavery because slavery has created this amazing thing.

Narrator: One farm in Woodford County would gain national attention due to the combination of the owner and eventually one slave.

The farm was Woodburn Stud, later to gain worldwide fame as Airdrie Stud.

Owner Robert Alexander was recognized for changing the thoroughbred industry, developing an advanced system for tracking and breeding horses.

The farm would breed four Kentucky Derby winners, 10 Belmont Stake champions and four Preakness winners.

Still standing is the Spring Station Depot, for decades used by buyers from New York and beyond.

Arriving at the station, visiting the exquisite mansion and purchasing the yearlings of Woodburn Stud.

It was a very, very pivotal farm and was the precursor of a lot of major thoroughbred farms, not only in Kentucky, but throughout the North America, the farms whose main business includes raising horses for the market.

I don't know that they were the first people ever to sell any yearlings.

But as far as having an auction setting, they were certainly the leader.

Narrator: Robert Alexander understood how important an experienced trainer would be to his system.

During the Civil War, he would buy a slave named Ansel Williamson.

Chris Goodlett: Well, Woodburn Farm was really one of the first great thoroughbred breeding operations in the State of Kentucky.

One of its first great trainers was an enslaved man named Ansel Williamson.

Ansel Williamson made his way to Kentucky from Virginia.

He was purchased by Robert Aitcheson Alexander and he became an enslaved man at Woodburn farm and he was really put in charge of the care of the horses and the training of the horses.

Ansel Williamson was a trainer at Woodburn Stud.

Ansel Williamson is another one of those stories that does not get told hardly at all, but yet he was the trainer of the first Kentucky Derby winner.

Narrator: Ansel Williamson came to represent the importance of these Black trainers and what they meant for So, many owners.

A winning trainer was a sign of their success and pride.

There are certain horsemen who really attained so much expertise and are so well known that they essentially become advisors.

And for people like Robert Alexander who runs Woodburn farm, he knows that Ansel Williamson knows an incredible amount about the horses in his care.

And basically, he defers to his opinion often.

And we have really extraordinary letters about that sometimes between White men who are clearly, you know, very prominent, trying to impress each other and the way they try to impress each other is they say, oh, well, you know, I'm taking advice from this Black horseman and your Black horseman will know mine.

Narrator: As the Civil War spread into Kentucky, Ansel Williamson would play another important role on the farm, supporting his owner.

As the center of the breeding universe, Woodburn Stud would also become the center of attention during the conflict.

Confederates raided horse farms across the bluegrass, looking for thoroughbreds to fill their cavalry.

How slaves reacted to help their masters and to help protect the horses and thoroughbred racing from the ravages of war was surprising.

Chris Goodlett: Ansel Williamson said that one of the greatest horses he ever trained was Asteroid, a horse that he trained for Woodburn Farm during the American Civil War.

The Confederate writer William Quantrill came to Woodburn farm and demanded to be given Asteroid and he was talking with Ansel Williamson, confronting Ansel Williamson at this time.

It said that Ansel presented a horse to William Quantrill that was not Asteroid.

But William Quantrill thought it was Asteroid.

Ansel put himself at great risk to do that, to protect that horse, keep it at Woodburn farm, keep it away from William Quantrill.

Edward Bowen: You had this tremendous connection of these horses who meant so much to the people who took care of them.

It's easy to imagine that a slave whose life was better than the life of most slaves really had an appreciation for those horses.

And as any, with any animal, you do get an affection.

Day to day the people who care for those horses and the people who know them and the people the horses know are Black horsemen.

And I think for a lot of folks that is an emotionally important thing.

I was really struck by Charles Stewart who, when he's later recounting his life, he tells time by the things horses in his care are doing.

He talks about horses in a way that's So, much more sentimental than the way he talks about any human being.

And I think for some men, especially in slavery, having human relationships is So, dangerous and it's so fraught and they can be broken at any time.

And I think horses for some of those folks as they express are a solace.

There was that natural connection.

And it was ironic to think that, but it was true that here you had these slaves who were property themselves were so bent on protecting the animal that was owned by the same person who owned the people.

So, it's, again, sort of a cringe-worthy situation but admirable on the part of the slave.

For somebody like Ansel Williamson who's enslaved first in the Deep south and then comes to Kentucky to Woodburn Farm, by the time Williamson gets to Woodburn farm, everybody knows who he is.

He's run horses all over the Deep south.

And during the Civil War, he's basically going to be an on-site coordinator at Woodburn Farm and make sure that those horses are safe and make sure that they're cared for in the midst of the war.

Narrator: One famous Kentucky thoroughbred at Woodburn to escape the perils of the Civil War was appropriately named Lexington.

Lexington would be the nation's leading sire 16 times in racing history and was highly sought after by the Confederates.

One of Mr. Alexander's great fears, of course, was that this wonderful stallion Lexington would be kidnapped and people may be not knowing that he couldn't be a very good soldier's horse because he was blind.

Narrator: The Black horsemen of what would become the future Airdrie Stud saved Lexington from capture, sneaking him from barn to barn.

After the Confederates were far away, Alexander and Williamson took Lexington to the same railroad station that brought northern horsemen to buy his progeny.

Woodburn's most famous occupant was shipped safely to the north.

Today, the skeleton of this great stallion is preserved.

He stands proudly for all to see, rather than having disappeared in the fog of war.

Thanks to the Black horsemen of Woodburn.

Many slaves were allowed to join the United States Army.

In Kentucky, many came to Camp Nelson to enlist.

Yvonne Giles: When you join a military, you expect to be injured or killed.

There's no question in your mind that might happen.

But 23,700 African Americans did that here in Kentucky.

We were the second highest recruited state.

Louisiana beat us by 30 men.

Narrator: Of these enlistees, many would become the horsemen that made up the 5th Cavalry, a unit that would suffer as Union soldiers and as Black soldiers at the hands of the enemy, particularly after the Battle of Saltville, Virginia.

Yvonne Giles: After the battle, there were wounded laying on the battlefield.

The Confederates killed them, massacre.

Narrator: In another tragedy, while performing the everyday task of herding cattle to Louisville, the 5th Cavalry was ambushed at Simpsonville and over 22 members of the unit were killed.

These horsemen were buried in a mass grave but their memory was honored by the erection of tombstones by the roadside, marking where they had lost their lives.

One horseman at Camp Nelson, Dudley Allen would return to the race track after the war to great success.

Allen ends up as a sergeant.

He ends his military career as a sergeant and he goes back home to Lexington where he sets up as a horseman.

He's a trainer from the very beginning, and in 1891 he achieves a real career high point where he becomes the only Black man yet to own a Kentucky Derby winner, Kingman, who he also trains.

Narrator: As the war ended, many of the Black horsemen gathered in cities with racing tracks.

These slaves that had become free men had discovered they had abilities, they could sell on the open market.

Many would settle in the east end of Lexington near the Kentucky Racing Association, becoming jockeys, groomsmen, exercise riders, and trainers.

The Kentucky Racing Association would become home to some of the most notable national races and as such would draw attention to the horsemen racing there.

some former slaves chose to continue working as free men for their previous owners.

Back at Woodburn Stud, Ansel Williamson who helped change the thoroughbred industry with his owner Robert Alexander was not only creating four-legged champions, he would mentor former slaves to learn the different trades of the turf and continue to have an impact on the thoroughbred industry.

Roda Ferraro: Folks who had their start working with horses during enslavement and were often competitively bid on a stock themselves, now were in a position to have their former owners competitively bidding for contracts for their services.

We still see the sense of passing on knowledge to the next generation and just a unique, vibrant, and comparatively speaking, as a whole affluent neighborhood that was burgeoning there around that track.

Bruce Mundy: When I grew up in the east end, you would hear the stories.

It was just about Black men who worked, raced, and lived in the east end of Lexington.

I didn't know the names until much later when I became an adult and started doing research and studying myself.

But when I was young, I would sneak away sometimes in this area, we used to call the big field, and I always wondered why the big field had no trees.

Well, I found out later that the big field was actually the infield for the old Kentucky Association race track.

The Kentucky Association was one of the most important tracks and it featured some of the most important races.

The Phoenix Stakes, which is the oldest stakes race in the United States.

The Ben Ali, the Breeders' Futurity.

So, these jockeys were in a very prominent track racing the most prestigious races.

Narrator: As the country moved on after the war, the Telegraph that had proven instrumental during the conflict now became instrumental for the economy.

One industry it greatly affected was thoroughbred racing, providing immediate race results to newspapers and gamblers.

And while men like Ansel Williamson would train and help create a community of Black horsemen, it was the jockeys who became the known heroes.

They probably were equally as skilled and equally accomplished as horsemen when they were enslaved.

But without that shackle, they just shot to the media attention.

They had names, they were quoted in newspapers.

This was a completely new environment.

This is the first time that the media had access to basically an equine rock star.

Narrator: Throughout the last part of the 19th century, names like William Walker, Sue Perkins and Jimmy Wakefield grabbed the attention of young and old alike across the nation.

Perhaps the best known jockey was Isaac Murphy.

Isaac Murphy gets a lot of discussion as one of the greatest jockeys that ever lived.

It is said that his career winning percentage was around 44%.

There's some discussion about his actual winning percentage because the way they documented races wasn't as accurate as it is today.

A modern day jockey riding at the same level of race as Isaac Murphy in the United States of America, the top jockeys might have a winning percentage 20% to 25%.

So, that gives you an idea of what Isaac Murphy was doing in his time winning some of the greatest races, including three Kentucky Derbies, the first jockey to win three Kentucky Derbies.

Voiceover: Isaac Murphy is considered perhaps the greatest jockey ever.

Murphy would become known for his riding style, sitting upright in the saddle, and winning from behind in the final stretch.

Roda Ferraro: Murphy was winning the most prestigious races across the country, not once, not twice, you know, the Latonia Derby or the Kentucky Derby, we're talking multiple times.

His unmatched winning percentage, nearly half the time he's in the saddle he won.

Narrator: Another successful jockey was Shelby Pike Barnes, born in Beaver Dam, Kentucky.

With Barnes, another Kentuckian, he was top rider in this country in 1888, in 1889.

He was the first jockey to surpass 200 wins in a season in North America.

He held that first jockey to surpass 200 wins for several years.

Narrator: One other change would happen in horse racing that would make the sport more exciting and draw more attention to different jockeys.

Going from two horse match races to races with multiple horses at the start.

Chris Goodlett: Match race is pretty interesting because it's not what we're really accustomed to in American racing now.

We're used to what we call route racing.

When we say route racing, we're talking about the Kentucky Derby.

We're talking about 20 horses, going a mile and a quarter.

Narrator: Both Lexington and Louisville would become home to stakes races that would grow into major stepping stones in thoroughbred history, all leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

The first Kentucky Derby was in 1875 and Oliver Lewis, an African American, won the first Kentucky Derby and that particular horse was trained by Ansel Williamson, who was african american himself.

In that particular race, 13 of the 15 jockeys were Black jockeys.

15 of the first 28 derby winners were Black jockeys.

And So, there was dominance and prominence in the industry, led by Isaac Murphy, who won three Kentucky Derbies back then.

Narrator: As the nation heard of Black jockeys dominating the track at the Kentucky Derby, another freed slave, Edward Dudley Brown rose to prominence as a trainer and eventual owner.

Being a native of Lexington, I had always heard of or at least for many years had heard of all of the African American jockeys that really had a great deal of success in the reconstruction era up until the Jim Crow era.

And So, that had always resonated with me as a story that maybe wasn't told enough, but it was told.

But what I still don't hear very much of are the accomplishments of trainers and owners that also were African American.

Narrator: As a young boy, Brown was born in Lexington as a slave by Woodburn farm.

He would study under Ansel Williamson.

Initially as a jockey winning the first Belmont Stakes in 1870, Edward Brown would become a trainer like Ansel Williamson.

He would eventually buy and train the 1877 Kentucky Derby winner Baden-Baden.

But Edward Brown found his true calling was recognizing talent and training young two year olds for the upcoming national races.

Katherine Mooney: Brown actually carves out this really amazing niche for himself where it turns out that his immense talent, which is virtually impossible to attain, is he can find a young horse and he can talent spot and he can find raw talent and he can refine it.

And that's how he spots two Kentucky Derby winners and shapes them into what they will become in the 1890s.

Narrator: In 1896, Brown would guide Ben Brush with Willie Simms on board to win the Kentucky Derby.

The first time the winner would wear the now traditional garland of roses.

Two years later, Brown would train Derby winner Plaudit, this time for John E. Madden of Hamburg stud.

Clark Williams: He clearly had the ability and the knack for really developing horses when they were juveniles, when they were young horses.

And so that's one of the things about Ed Brown that really stands out is just his ability to really develop that young talent into world class championship talent that that really ends up living up to its ability.

Narrator: While the races would capture the eyes of America, in death, many jockeys and other Black horsemen would be lost or forgotten.

In the middle of Lexington, close to where the Kentucky Racing Association track once stood, is African Cemetery No.

2.

The final resting place for 182 Black horsemen from the 1800s.

Oliver Lewis, winner of the first Kentucky Derby, is known to be buried in his family's plot, but his name was never engraved on the tombstone.

Sue Perkins, highly celebrated and also a derby winner, also lies unmarked.

This headstone with the word "Jockey" misspelled represents one of the sadder aspects of horse racing.

Yvonne Giles: Danger is always existing in this industry.

It's never a safe industry.

Early time period, an example, in African Cemetery No.

2, we have documented 20 jockeys, 12 of them died before they were 16 from racing accidents.

And this is not unheard of, it's part of the narrative of the industry.

Narrator: Today's jockeys have many safety advantages earlier horsemen did not have.

Kevlar jackets and helmets and riding rails that give way during accidents.

The cemetery holds many horsemen stories secret, like this unknown farrier who is only identified by the symbol of his trade.

He and others like him are remembered by Duane Raglin, who follows in their footsteps.

A lot of their work still speaks through what we do.

The guys that taught me how to shoe horses, I shoe like them.

Fortunate enough for me that they are in the Hall of Fame and I can keep pushing what they do and what they taught me and it kind of lives on.

Narrator: It is part of the legacy of these horsemen that they would continue to share not only their knowledge with those in their community but also share their wealth with those in need.

Isaac Murphy and his wife would build their home in Lexington, often opening it to their neighbors.

They had a rooftop observatory that overlooked the Kentucky Association track.

They were consummate entertainers, philanthropic, and very much would have been, you know, regarded as a point of pride in that community.

And Isaac and Lucy never had children, but there are plenty of stories that we see in the record of hosting weddings, community events.

Narrator: Ed Brown would pass on his knowledge, allowing some of those he mentored to live in his home.

He too would help those in need in his community.

Edward Brown went bankrupt several times because he used to give loans to people.

He used to help people.

That's what he did.

If you walk through African Cemetery No.

2, you will see numerous organizations.

They were Benevolent societies.

These men were components of those organizations.

They was helping a community that had recently been enslaved and had come out of enslavement, impoverished.

And it's sometimes with very little hope and to see them as professionals, to see them ascending an economic ladder and not being selfish about it.

Narrator: But as these Black horsemen would find success and wealth by following the trade they had learned as slaves, they also found that the racism that founded their enslavement would follow them into their new free world.

Black horsemen were winning and as stories of their success spread across the country, White horsemen and others would begin to resent the attention and calls for segregation rose in the media.

If you look at the landscape in, say, the 1880s, there's plenty of racism going around the country, right?

I mean, there are consistent efforts to limit access to public accommodations.

There's still a lot of racial violence, particularly in the south, and yet there's Isaac Murphy, right?

And they're his friends and they are winning and they are famous and they are celebrities And you have memoirs by, you know, White men who say, oh, when I was a kid, everybody I knew wanted to be Isaac Murphy, right?

I mean, he's a hero.

Narrator: Newspapers would grab onto one story of Isaac Murphy in an effort to destroy a national Black hero.

Having won two Kentucky Derbies, Isaac would do battle in a nationally acclaimed match race aboard his mount Salvator against the highly favorite horse, Tenny.

Becky Ryder: It received lots and lots of publicity.

When the race was run, just the two horses, Salvator held back, typical Isaac stalking style.

And then Murphy starts easing Salvator forward, just easing him forward, and people who are clocking the eighths of the mile start looking at their watches, they say, because they can't believe that a horse is going that fast.

And Tenny's jockey tries to catch him and nearly does.

And Salvator wins on the wire in one of the earliest photo finishes in American history.

Narrator: Murphy won this race and then another on Salvator.

He attended a special celebration that would draw national attention he did not expect.

Becky Ryder: All of his backers got together, they were known as the Salvator Club.

They got together and had a big clam bake, lots of spirits flowing.

He was the only Black man there with 200 White, rich, politically savvy people.

Two days later, there is the Monmouth Handicap and Isaac was racing Firenzi, that was James Ben Ali Haggin's famous race mare.

She was the winningest filly mare at the time.

Isaac seemed to be not in control of her.

She finished dead last, completely atypical for Firenzi.

And when they came to a halt, Isaac literally fell off his saddle and somebody had to assist him to get up back into the saddle So, that she could be let off the race track.

It was a disgrace and immediately the press leapt upon this event as a sign that Isaac was drunk, that he still was hung over from that clam bake 48 hours later -- come on?

Narrator: Murphy would claim he had not felt well and might have even been drugged.

There was no evidence he had been drinking.

Becky Ryder: The Clerk of Scales said, "If he had been drinking, I would have noticed.

I had to weigh him in."

Narrator: While the accusations of drinking were unproven, the criticisms from the press would damage Isaac Murphy's career.

He had one more successful year.

When he won the Kentucky Derby in 1891, it was his third derby win.

And after that, his mounts decreased precipitously.

Reputable papers start saying, gosh, you know, you really can't have Black men working in a stable because they're just not capable of it or you can't have Black men and White men working together in a stable because scientifically you can't have an integrated workplace, it doesn't work out.

And it's really odd to read those things because you think anybody reading this could look up or look down the street to the Kentucky Association or Saratoga or their local track and know that this was nonsense.

And so I think what you really see there is how much people were really invested in believing that segregation was the proper way to organize the society.

They really wanted to believe that.

And so racing, which is this huge shining example of how that's not true, is sort of made to conform to that and everybody sort of pretends that that's always been how it is.

I mean, it's this mass rewriting of history that's going on in public and everybody sort of allows it to happen.

Narrator: The 14th Amendment was designed to erase legal racial barriers but state governments tried to recreate those barriers, passing laws that allowed for separate but equal facilities, separating Black from White on trains or restaurants or even going to plays challenged all the way to the Supreme Court in 1896.

In a decision titled Plessy v. Ferguson, the separate but equal facilities law was upheld by a vote of 7 to 1.

Ironically, the only dissenting vote in this decision was by John Marshall Harlan.

From Danville, Kentucky, Harlan was also the son of a slave owner.

This decision would lay the foundation for the segregationist, Jim Crow laws.

At the turn of the century, another jockey's name would flash on the telegraph across the nation, Jimmy Winkfield.

Jimmy Winkfield won consecutive Kentucky Derbies in 1901 and 1902.

When he arrived in Chicago that August, Winkfield was greeted with what would become the jockey wars.

Yvonne Giles: Most of the White jockeys were seeing the Blacks at the top of their game making big money.

They wanted that money.

They would target Jimmy Winkfield, kick the stirrups out from under his boots and lift him up off the saddle into the fence.

And he was lucky that he ended up in the fence instead of on the ground because he would have been trampled.

Narrator: For owners, the concern was not so much for the injured jockeys but that their horses might be injured or killed.

They would stop hiring the Black jockeys to protect their investments using the Plessy v. Ferguson decision along with the ensuing Jim Crow laws as a legal right to exclude African Americans, not only as jockeys but as grooms and trainers from the racetracks.

The actions of these owners would push African Americans out of the saddle for the rest of the century.

Eighty years would pass before a Black jockey would once again ride in the Kentucky Derby.

Ironically, White owners would find they're still dependent on the knowledge and abilities of Black horsemen to create champions.

While not dominating the 1900s as the Black horsemen of the 1800s, these horsemen would carry on the tradition and sense of community throughout the 20th century.

Even after we talk about the Ed Browns and the Ansel Williamsons and Reconstruction and even after you go to win, there were African Americans really shut out of some of the upper echelons of the sport.

Still in those Jim Crow times in the 1910s and the '20s and the '30s, there were still African Americans and even to this day, they're still African Americans in the sport, but there were still African Americans that were owning and training horses and having enough success where they could be profitable and they could make a living and they could raise their families and own homes and do all of those things.

It becomes very easy to tell this is the story of Jim Crow triumphant.

That's how it felt in the moment.

And it's very painful to read about when you start looking to find out what happened to jockeys and trainers at the turn of the 20th century.

But Black men never leave the track and they continue to have this tremendous and important expertise.

So it may seem like a story about Jim Crow being triumphant, but I think it's also a story about generations of people who refuse to let Jim Crow win in the end.

Narrator: Jockey William Walker, once himself threatened with lynching, became a trainer for the horses of John Madden at Hambug Stud.

The mentorship of Edward Dudley Brown carried on with Marshall Lilly, who had helped train the aptly named Upset, the only horse to ever defeat Man o' War.

As the new Keeneland racecourse came under construction in the 1930s, Man o' War's groom Will Harbut would be known nationwide.

Harbut's grandson today continues that family tradition, owning and operating a bloodstock agency in the horse industry.

Will Harbut, the great groom of Man o' War, who clearly was really a horse whisperer.

But then the other thing that you don't hear a lot about with Greg's legacy is more so even with his grandfather, Tom Harbut.

Greg Harbut: He was able to see me at the age of 18 run my first horse at Churchill Downs.

He was a groom and I ran my first horse and he was able to come up and participate in that.

He was very happy to see me coming into the business, but I think he was also very hesitant, because in his time, African Americans just did not have the opportunities within the business.

So I look back, you know, I'm now 38, so that's 20 years ago and to see the progress that is being made, there's still much more work to do, but there is progress being made.

So I think about those memories that he and I share.

Narrator: In 1973, groom Eddie Sweat was immortalized with Secretariat on the way to perhaps the greatest triple crown.

It's not just Black horsemen who have carried the legacy forward.

In the 1970s, at just 17, Cheryl White became the first licensed Black female jockey, a national phenomenon.

Her accomplishments included riding and winning hundreds of races and later becoming one of the first female racing stewards.

From the Kentucky Horse Park to Keeneland Library to the Kentucky Derby Museum, displays and artwork today share the story of these Black horsemen.

And today, a new generation is being taught the legacy of the Black horsemen from those who remember.

They are taught and encouraged by those who have continued the family traditions of working in this industry, hoping to pass the passion and skills forward to their children and others.

It's been the toughest but the most rewarding.

I love working with my son.

It's very rewarding.

To see him falling in love or in love with what he does, like I do, that was priceless.

Narrator: Groups like the Ed Brown Society and the Legacy Equine Academy are encouraging young Black people to return to the race track.

Ronald Mack: It's exciting to know what they went through and be successful in such a time where it wasn't set up to be.

The mission is to share those stories to young people and to give them motivation to know that people of their heritage, of their history made what is the horse capital of the world.

Greg Harbut: We want to tell them about the many career opportunities that abound within the industry.

This is a multibillion dollar industry per year.

I'm very excited to see the new wave of potential African American horsemen get into the industry.

We provide scholarships, we provide internships and we provide exposures.

When you look at the thoroughbred business, the foundation starts with the direct contributions of African Americans.

Narrator: Young people continue to hear the stories extolling the heroes of the turf.

Bruce Mundy: The story is important in that it needs to be told because it really wasn't.

They were the pillars and foundations for this industry that ended up becoming a multibillion dollar industry.

History is like a clock.

It tells the people the historical time of day.

It tells where they've been, where they are, and where they yet have still to go.

Narrator: It is indeed the history of these Black horsemen that is worthy of telling, of generations who labored through slavery and war, and through segregation, many who performed the most menial tasks, to some who became the most accomplished horsemen.

We must remember and respect their contributions to the foundation of thoroughbred racing and look forward to the accomplishments and achievements to come.

Voiceover: Funding for this program is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.