Lawn jockey

The earlier "Jocko" design usually depicts the "right arm" raised, and was styled as a cartoonish young black boy, often with exaggerated features, such as big eyes with the whites painted in; large lips painted red; a large, flat nose and curly hair. Typically, these pieces were painted in gaudy colors for the uniform as with racing colors, with the flesh of the statue a gloss black. As of the 20th century, these statues have been considered racist, and many remaining samples have now been repainted, using pink paint for the skin. At the same time, the original sculpture's exaggerated features remain.

The "cavalier spirit" style hitching post

Lawn jockey in front of a historic home in Galveston

The "cavalier spirit" design usually depicts the "left arm" raised and uses a less exaggerated likeness of a young man, with non-descript features. These statues would also be painted in stark colors, with skin in either gloss black or pastel pink, red lips, etc., white breeches, black boots, and usually with the vest and cap of either bright red or dark green. Occasionally, the vest and cap might be painted in the bright shades of a jockey's racing silks. Several of the "cavalier spirit" jockey statues are prominently displayed at both the entrance of the 21 Club in Manhattan and the entrance of the Santa Anita Park clubhouse in Los Angeles.

A 1947 magazine advertisement uses two images of cavalier-style lawn jockeys to underscore the statue's use as a symbol of hospitality and the hospitality associated with Old Taylor Kentucky Bourbon, stating: "Jockey hitching posts that invited guests to tarry are an old Kentucky tradition – another sign of a good host." [1]

Charles L. Blockson, Curator Emeritus of the Afro-American Collection at Temple University in Philadelphia and author of "Hippocrene Guide to the Underground Railroad", claims the figures were used in the days of the Underground Railroad to guide escaping slaves to freedom: "Green ribbons were tied to the arms of the statue to indicate safety; red ribbons meant to keep going ... People who don't know the history of the jockey have feelings of humiliation and anger when they see the statue ...".[2]

Patterns of and markings on the clothing of the statues also are said to have indicated messages understood by fleeing slaves.

These claims have been disputed in Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices.[3] The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia also notes that "there is very little, if any, primary source material for the claim that lawn jockeys were used as signaling devices for escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad."[4]

An apocryphal and never substantiated account of the figure's origin portrays the statue as representing a hero of African American history and culture. According to the River Road African American Museum, the figure originated in commemoration of heroic dedication to duty: "It is said that the 'lawn jockey' has its roots in the tale of one Jocko Graves, an African-American youth who served with General George Washington at the time that he crossed the Delaware to carry out his surprise attack on Hessian forces at Trenton, NJ. The General thought him too young to take along on such a dangerous attack, so he left him on the Pennsylvania side to tend to the horses and to keep a light on the bank for their return. So the story goes, the boy, faithful to his post and his orders, froze to death on the river bank during the night, the lantern still in his hand. The General was so much moved by the boy's devotion to his duty that he had a statue sculpted and cast of him, holding the lantern, and had it installed at his Mount Vernon estate. He called the sculpture "The Faithful Groomsman"."

The most frequently cited source for the story is Kenneth W. Goings in "Mammy and Uncle Mose" (Indiana University Press, 1994), though he regards it as apocryphal. The story was told as well in a 32-page children's book by Earl Kroger Sr., "Jocko: A Legend of the American Revolution" (1963). There is also a 13-page typescript titled "A Horse for the General: The Story of Jocko Graves" (1972), by Thomas William Halligan, in the archives of the University of Alaska Anchorage / Alaska Pacific University Consortium Library.[5]

The Revolutionary War legend is not corroborated by historical records. Mount Vernon's librarian Ellen McCallister Clark wrote in a letter to Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library: "No record of anybody by the name of Jocko Graves, nor any account of somebody freezing to death holding Washington's horses, exists in the extensive historical record of the time."