Jim Crow in the Saddle: The Expulsion of African American Jockeys from American Racing

Michael Leeds and Hugh Rockoff

No 28167, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Between the Civil War and the turn of the nineteenth century there were many prominent African American jockeys. They rode winners in all of the Triple-Crown races. But at the turn of the century they were forced out. This paper uses a new data set on the Triple-Crown races, which includes odds on all of the entrants in all of the races, to explore the causes of the expulsion of African American jockeys. Our conclusion is that although there is some evidence of prejudice by owners and the betting public – for the latter in the Kentucky Derby although not in the other legs of the Triple Crown – historical evidence indicates that the final push came from the White jockeys who were determined to “draw the color line.”

JEL-codes: N11 N3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-spo
Note: DAE
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