When were lawn jockeys common?
Posted by CaptainKath@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 92 comments
My family house was originally a cottage built sometime in the 60s, and I live in southern Ontario. Unfortunately the house came with a cast iron lawn jockey with a face that I assume was painted black but the bright red lips are still very much visible.
I was wondering when exactly these were popular? I’ve seen a lot of people say they can date back to 1880s, but I’m curious as to why it ended up here as almost all of the posts I’ve seen here were from America.
Unfortunately AGAIN, when my dad first told me what it was, he told me it was racist but that it was funny(?) so he kept it. It was very upsetting to learn of its origins because I had always thought it was a gnome man in our garden.
AudienceAgile1082@reddit
“Black Americana” is what I’ve seen them referred to in antique/vintage shops
avicia@reddit
A lot of faux history is written about them but they really surged in popularity in the 1950s in the US so one in Ontario was probably part of that same popularity in the US. In the 1950's and 1960's racist caricature characters were still common in media and advertising.
CaptainAwesome06@reddit
They were originally made to be a hitching post, created in the 1850s or 1860s. The type you described are known as the "Jocko" design and are definitely meant to be a racist stereotype. Since then, they've made lawn jockeys that look more human and come in brown or white skin.
I used to drive past a market in rural Virginia every day on my way to work. They sold these outside. One day, I went down the rabbit hole of looking these up. My guess was that they had racist origins and I wasn't surprised I was correct.
SierraKami@reddit
I live in Virginia and the only people I know who have them are a couple who own a farm in western VA. The husband, now retired, used to be a horse breeder and racehorse trainer and he comes from a line of skilled horsemen.
Ironically, the husband is black.
I don't know what they symbolized to that family but I did think it was an interesting choice of decor.
CobandCoffee@reddit
They're still hugely popular here in central Kentucky. These days people often paint them in the patterns/ colors of specific silks to resemble actual jockeys.
Frankennietzsche@reddit
Also, in Kentucky. I still see them every now and again. I seem to think that most of the ones I see are painted monochromatically; usually all white or black, but other colors, too.
CaptainAwesome06@reddit
Racist undertones aside, that sounds fun. Seems on brand for Kentucky, with horse racing and all.
CobandCoffee@reddit
Yeah I feel like a lot of people aren't fully aware of that history and just want to decorate their yard in a way that fits with local culture. I've seen a couple lawn jockeys painted black but they were painted to resemble specific black jockeys as opposed to the Jim Crow type. There's been a big push the past few years to recognize historical black jockeys and their impact on horse racing.
CaptainAwesome06@reddit
Being ignorant of past racism is as American as apple pie.
CobandCoffee@reddit
People move on and things adopt new meanings. Thankfully often without the racist connotations.
CaptainAwesome06@reddit
And sometimes things keep the same meanings but people try to deflect and try to claim something else.
SabresBills69@reddit
jacko graves was a slave who handled/ held George Washington hotses.
jacko term originated from him. These would be used to tie horses onto.
CaptainAwesome06@reddit
Yes, there are a lot of unsubstantiated rumors of who Jocko may have been. He was also a legendary African hero.
FishingWorth3068@reddit
I mean. Someone thought it was funny enough to bring it across the border and put it in their front lawn so your dad wasn’t lying.
NeverRarelySometimes@reddit
Where's the humor? I don't get it.
wpascarelli@reddit
Grew up in the 80s on Long Island and we had one. I assume it was from when the house was originally built (in the 50s).
callmeseetea@reddit
My grandparents house had one in suburban NJ. We lived by 2 horse tracks and equine was fairly popular in the area. It was a white jockey and wore a blue coat. I have a distinct memory of her having me help her repaint the fading jacket and black shoes when I was little. It held a lantern that was wired to turn on with the nighttime porch lights
UncleRuckus92@reddit
Ive never seen a lawn jockey as you describe but I live near a famous racecourse and there are legitimate jockeys on lawns all over the place
Fun-Trainer-3848@reddit
I remember seeing the ones describes occasionally as a kid but I haven’t seen one in years.
Loisgrand6@reddit
What color are they?
UncleRuckus92@reddit
Usually a light tan color, though some of the old ones its pretty white. Ive never seen a blackface one before and had no clue they were controversial
LvBorzoi@reddit
In NC & SC if you see one now they have been repainted. Originally the were painted as blacks (I'm 63 and old enough to have seen them)
Julesagain@reddit
Same. I'm 67.
Fuzzzer777@reddit
I can confirm. I was in my preteen when I noticed they started painting them lighter skin colors. So around early 1970s.
UncleRuckus92@reddit
Im in SC right now so ill keep an eye out for one
butter_milk@reddit
I grew up near a famous race course but in California, and we also had white/tan jockeys in people’s yards. When I started to hear about “racist lawn jockeys” I was extremely confused at first.
Suppafly@reddit
People repaint the black ones so that they are less racist, the origins are still racist though.
AdMountain6203@reddit
Username checks out...
UncleRuckus92@reddit
Lol just a huge fan of the Boondocks, ive thought about changing it but its been my username for this and xbox since highschool
cohrt@reddit
I live in the same area probably. Never seen a black one
QuietObserver75@reddit
I think you grew up around the same area I did and yeah, I only saw the white lawn jockeys and just kind of assumed it was a horse racing thing.
Tillie_Coughdrop@reddit
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in real life, but then we never had black slavery in my state. (We definitely have a racist history but no blatant dog whistles like this.) I can’t imagine putting something steeped in racism on my front lawn, and painting a black face white is just as bad IMO. I mean, you can’t find a nice planter or a horse statue?
Ok-Turnip-2816@reddit
There’s a house not to far from my office that has one. I think it’s the only one I’ve ever seen in the wild.
TheBimpo@reddit
Might be a better question for /r/askhistorians.
My racist grandparents had one in their yard through the 90s in the Midwest.
sponge_welder@reddit
They show up regularly in antique stores in the South, along with racist dolls, racist figurines, racist books, etc
ReversedFrog@reddit
Those things fascinate me. I'm intrigued by the casual racism. I mean, you had the active White Supremacist KKK-types, but then just your everyday white person who bought into the racist imagery without thinking about it. Like the blackface Lincoln's Birthday part of Holiday Inn, an otherwise great movie. I think this sort of thing reflects American racism better than the more obvious things -- something just assumed rather than asserted.
cruzweb@reddit
Definitely remember seeing nearby houses having them in Macomb County in the 90s
AdMountain6203@reddit
Some people had them in the suburbs in NE Ohio in the 80's. When I had to sell things for fundraisers for school or sports, I avoided those houses (I'm black). But I also had a paper route for awhile, and one guy with one was an ahole when I went to collect. He acted like my very presence contaminated his property.
Ok_Entrepreneur_8509@reddit
My grandparents had one in the 1980s, but it was deliberately painted to look like a white person. Even the rural (and notoriously racist) part of Colorado where they lived would not have tolerated a black one.
ArkansasTravelier@reddit
My family had them and still have a huge collection of mammy and sambo figurines, my great grandpa even made a set of salt and pepper shakers out of old door knobs painted like mammy and what could be described as a cross between Calvin candie and colonel sanders for the salt.
Arkansas an the south in general is a complicated place, my family isn’t hateful for the most part but I think they feel comfort in things they grew up around without acknowledging why they exist. same with certain language used without acknowledging that it is hurtful to a lot of people.
LeGrandePoobah@reddit
I don’t recall seeing one, in all my life. I’ve travelled throughout the US quite substantially (only 6 more states to go) and much of that travel by car. Maybe a faint memory of one when I was a kid. Out west, though, I can say that is not a thing in the least.
2PlasticLobsters@reddit
I've seen several that people have repainted in non-human colors, to neutralize that racist aspect. Some of them are heavy &/or anchored in the ground, so hard to remove. It's way easier to paint it blue or such, so nobody is offended.
tranquilrage73@reddit
They were still around in the 1980s.
primitive_thisness@reddit
Neighbor had one in his yard in Chicago in the 1980s. The problematic kind.
cohrt@reddit
They’re pretty popular where I live. But I live near a horse race track so they’re all painted like actual jockeys not a minstrel show.
cheekmo_52@reddit
I’ve got to assume whoever placed a lawn jockey in their yard in Ontario, in the ‘60’s, had racists reasons for doing so. (I would also assume anyone who kept a lawn jockey on their property today had racist reasons for doing so. Something you might want to encourage your father to consider. )
They first became popular in the US in the post civil war era, where they invariably depicted a black boy dressed as a stable hand or servant, whose skin was the color of cast iron, with exaggerated bright red lips, resembling the blackface minstrel show characters that ridiculed back people. Lawn jockeys were essentially deliberately created to reinforce the idea of black inferiority.
They had a resurgence in popularity in the 60’s, not coincidentally, during the civil rights movement for the same reason.
CaptainKath@reddit (OP)
Ah I see. Unfortunately my dad would not be very sympathetic. I have a feeling that’s why he never got rid of it
holymacaroley@reddit
When I was a kid in the 80s, a house a few blocks away had blackface ones and it was really shocking. Those were the only ones I've ever seen.
2Asparagus1Chicken@reddit
They're are still common. I hear them every single day in the summer.
PerfectAnonym@reddit
As an American I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about and wanted to type this out before googling it
Ralesgait@reddit
Longbeach California in the 50's to 70's.
Imaginary_Smile_7896@reddit
I would still see them occasionally as late as the 1980s, but they either depicted a white jockey or a black jockey without the exaggerated features. I didn't realize they ever had a racist connotation.
I remember somebody in a nearby neighborhood had one that was used as a lamp post, which in my pre-teen mind was pretty cool. I seem to recall it was white.
I grew up in Pennsylvania, for reference.
penguinwasteland1414@reddit
I remember seeing the black lawn jockeys as a kid. Today, I live in a predominantly black area and one of my neighbors has a white lawn jockey. I get a kick out of it. I realize he's getting even in a small, passive aggressive way.
Appropriate-Food1757@reddit
I’ve never seen one before but Curb Your Enthusiasm had a great episode about it.
Maleficent_Carrot508@reddit
As did Extras: https://youtu.be/s2pniymmkpg?si=mMjpIOcUrSeSamLO (technically a doll but same idea)
Joliet-Jake@reddit
There used to be a house in my city(majority black) that had a lawn FULL of white lawn jockeys. Probably 15-20. Probably the funniest thing I ever saw in anyone’s yard.
itdoes_doesntit@reddit
I saw them frequently in the 60s & 70s. I haven’t seen one in a l o o o o n g damn time because they are considered very racist.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
My uncle had two at a house he bought. They were “white” but my family all hated them because of their racist origins finally got them hauled off.
I think that’s the only time I recall seeing them in the wild.
They are not common. We don’t use horses anymore and casual racism has become far less acceptable over the years.
No-Clerk-2730@reddit
There is one in a front yard down the street from me right now. Hundred year old neighborhood. The jockey, who is light beige, has clearly been painted many times. When I was growing up in the 60's/70's a neighbor had one that was black but at some point in my childhood was repainted to a light beige (yes, we all noticed).
zoppaTheDim@reddit
I believe their popularity is tied to the post Gone With the Wind revival, which created a fad for faux plantation houses and decorations, post world war 2.
At least that is when they became a widely used lawn ornament, a fad which by the seventies had become a strictly anti-segregation statement.
I can’t speak for the ones in the south, but in the North it was rare to see one which hadn’t been painted white by the eighties.
jrc_80@reddit
I live in the Philadelphia metro area and I remember them on lawns back in the 1980s. Fkd up
Cerulean_IsFancyBlue@reddit
I grew up in the late 60s and early 70s in the suburban neighborhood in the northeast USA. They were to me a tacky lawn decoration, akin to having a birdbath, a statue of a Greek dancer, one of those light poles that looks like a gas lamp, but an electric bulb in it. The more modern equivalent might be one of those reflective orbs on a pedestal.
I think I was in third or fourth grade when one of the black kids at school told me that they were racist because they were caricatures of Black people, and next time I looked at them, I realized that holy shit definitely — even though the skin have been repainted white or beige on some of them.
I would guess at that point there were maybe three in our neighborhood of 50 houses. It’s likely that some of those people were not doing it as a racist symbol but because it was one of those tacky supposedly high status things.
Also, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that 3 out of 50 homes were potentially racist and then excusing even some of them. In retrospect, probably 40 out of 50 homes had at least some racist beliefs.
SAM5TER5@reddit
I don’t know what a lawn jockey is, but this tractor driving behind me won’t stop riding my grass
GSilky@reddit
The 80s they finally became "gross" around here. You can still see them in small town Nebraska and Kansas, but it seems to be only the older than dirt set displaying them.
Narrow_Lake_9651@reddit
I saw two bordering a driveway in the village where we had our summer cottage, northeast Illinois, late 50s. I knew it was a racist caricature even then. However, l was always able to compartmentalize things, so l never associated offensive stereotypes with real people, same with novels, tv and movies.
Interesting-Long-534@reddit
My parents had one. We called him a lawn jockey. I know my mom bought it and had it installed in the late 70s. She painted it with a cream colored face and hands. She didn't want anyone to think she was racist.
HelicopterUpbeat5199@reddit
There was one in the movie Animal House. I saw it as a kid. In the movie, the main character sees it and looks shocked/disgusted and while I knew nothing about race at that age, I knew that thing was evil!
Particular-Move-3860@reddit
Lawn jockeys were never even remotely common, but if you drive around in the older, more up-class suburbs for an hour or so, you might see one, maybe even two of them. They would be very old, and they looked it. Most were unpainted, or had faded and chipped paint. Also, figures of jockeys weren't the most popular even within that very limited market. You would see perhaps 10-20 long-handled water pumps (often missing the handles) and posts with miniature horses' heads before you saw even one badly chipped and barely recognizable miniature jockey.
Most people, even the well-off, didn't put statues or sculptures of any kind on their lawns. It was seen as bombastic and even a bit tacky.
Ravenclaw79@reddit
We have lots of them around here, but they’ve all been painted to be just regular jockeys, not racist caricatures
SnooChipmunks2079@reddit
Such things generally had resurgences whenever black folks got more rights which simply drove the racists crazy.
Since your house was built in the 60's, assuming the Canadian civil rights movements paralleled the American, I'd assume it was from pretty early in your house's history - 60's or maybe early 70's.
Radiant_Drop_9344@reddit
Back then we had a one in our neighborhood but most I saw were fishing that sat on the porch
MantisToboganPilotMD@reddit
i live in a small city that is really big for horse racing, they're still very popular here.
Lovebeingadad54321@reddit
Originally, lawn jockeys were totally inherently racist…
MantisToboganPilotMD@reddit
TIL
Loisgrand6@reddit
There’s a store in a county not far from me that used to sell them along with Confederate paraphernalia years ago. Flags are still there but I don’t remember seeing the jockeys. This particular county is racist but I won’t get into who else they like. I have seen a couple in my city. One was brown. One was obviously painted over but it was still ugly
Lovebeingadad54321@reddit
I saw a few in my neighborhood growing up in the 70’s, but they were not brand new, probably dated to 50-60’s?
PamCake137@reddit
There's one on the lawn of a home that I pass by often. The house is a very old farmhouse built in 1860. I think about it every time I go by. It's 2026 man, and they still have it out there in their front yard. SMH
HorseFeathersFur@reddit
Some historians, like Charles L. Blockson, have documented that lawn jockeys were used as navigational aids for escaping slaves.
Loisgrand6@reddit
Hmm
GradStudent_Helper@reddit
Ugh... I can't believe these still exist outside of museums. A cursory search tells me that they began to appear on lawns around 1850-1870... you know... as the South was losing the war. It was always common (during horse riding days) to have SOMETHING for people to hitch their pony to... but these were seen as a "classy" thing to have for people to use. Of course, it emulates an actual Black person there to take your horse for you.
Some people in my grandmother's neighborhood had them... but in the 90s when it started to be seen as a sign of open racism... some of them painted the face and hands of the little figures WHITE. Which was just weird AF. Plus, they used purely white paint (nothing remotely the color of anyone's flesh except for the dude in the movie "Powder"). I guess they were trying in their own way. But jeez.
FearDaTusk@reddit
🤔 Your explanation makes sense... But yeah, I had never heard of them.
I wonder if some folks down in Hot Springs (Oaklawn) have some more exposure to them.
wawa2022@reddit
I saw them in suburban NJ a lot in the early 80s. We used to just think they were tacky people who would have just as easily had lion figurines at their gates if they had them. Only found out as I got a bit older that they were racist.
HeidiDover@reddit
I live in northern Alabama and see them all the time.
Ok_Caterpillar2010@reddit
I remember one well from the '70s, and it was nowhere near new then.
BulkyTiger8706@reddit
Lawn jockeys were most common from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s, especially in the US, and a lot of them spread into Canada too because American suburban culture basically leaked across the border like DLC. By the 60s people still had them around as “old fashioned yard decor,” even if many owners never really questioned the racist history behind them. Also finding out your childhood garden gnome was actually vintage racism is an unbelievably cursed lore reveal.
GooseyDuckDuck@reddit
My only exposure to this was an episode of Curb your enthusiasm, I wasn’t sure it was a real thing.
Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit
I lived near a well-known racetrack in my youth, and I would see them occasionally, but they were not necessarily dark skinned.
MyUsername2459@reddit
I saw them occasionally growing up in Kentucky in the 1980's.
Not often, but you'd sometimes see them out front of houses on rural roads or back streets of small towns.
I can't really remember the last time I saw one, it's been a while.
gleaming-the-cubicle@reddit
They're referreced in the 1974 Frank Zappa song Uncle Remus which is about the civil rights protests
HoselRockit@reddit
Lived most of my life in the South. I would occasionally see them in a rural setting.
Rakim_SB420@reddit
I live in a historical part of Massachusetts, a lot of 1600-1800 homes. I have seen about 3 just within the same 5 or so miles, but have never seen them anywhere else. I’m assuming it was a old thing people did to decorate gardens, now it’s just gnomes lol
Top-Escape8518@reddit
My grandparents had one in the 80’s