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   First Kentucky der…

   
   

   17 May 2026

   This event began 05/17/2025 and repeats every year forever

   
   

   First Kentucky derby held 1875 
   The Colt's name is Aristides
   newspaper clipping [ The Tennessean
   Nashville, Tennessee • 
   Thu, May 11, 1876
   Page 1 ]
   https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-aristides-breaks-record-f/148895858/
   
   info
   https://www.espn.com.sg/sports/horse/news/story?id=5086727
   Aristides: The first Derby winner Terry Conway Apr 14, 2010, 11:51 PM H. P. McGrath was a barroom brawler who worked his way up from crooked dice games in his native Kentucky to owning posh gambling parlors in New Orleans and New York City. Cashing in his massive profits in 1867, McGrath returned to Lexington as a member of the landed gentry. He built his lordly estate McGrathiana on the crest of a hill a few miles outside town. Breeding, racing, and betting topflight thoroughbreds would dominate the rest of his life. Henry Price McGrath also gained immortality. His blood-red chestnut colt Aristides will forever be remembered in racing history as the first Kentucky Derby winner. The burly Irishman also threw the biggest parties in town. Each spring and fall on the Sunday before the opening of the race meetings, McGrath hosted lavish burgoo feasts. In May of 1875 the carriages of McGrath's racing friends swept up the twisting drive. Under a grove of locust trees at half-past one the feast commenced. First came the burgoo (a sumptuous beef stew) and burgundy, followed by roast dishes of mutton, goat and pig while the champagne and bourbon flowed. Afterwards McGrath paraded the leading lights of his stable before guests on the lawn. Eastern champions Tom Bowling and Susan Ann drew great applause. Not so for Aristides. His heroics were still a day away. Monday May 17 saw most businesses in Louisville shuttered by noon. Merchants realized the lion's share of the money exchanging hands would be at the new racetrack south of town. The previous summer one of the town's leading socialites, Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, button- holed 320 of his friends to pony up funds to build the track on 80 acres he leased from his uncle, John Churchill. On that sun-splashed day, streams of Louisvillians rode mule-drawn streetcars down Fourth Street departing for an easy walk to the site of the Louisville Jockey Club. Others arrived on foot or in wagons brimming with race fans. Fringe-topped buggies and handsom carriages led by brilliant teams of hackneys all made their way to the racecourse. Rich gentlemen wore silk hats and fine clothes, while pretty ladies in colorful dresses carrying parasols filled the boxes of the grandstand. Working men in straw hats and shirtsleeves got their first glimpse of the big city.Some paid two dollars for a badge that let them watch near the rail in the home stretch, others trooped into the infield and settled on their patch of grass. As the Derby 2:30 p.m. post time approached, more than 10,000 roamed the grounds. McGrath owned the favorite, a stout and spirited bay colt named Chesapeake. In addition, Aristides was entered as the "rabbit" to soften up the field. "Risty" was a pint size (a little over 15 hands) colt with a white star on his forehead and white socks on his hind legs. Possessing plenty of "bone and substance," as a two-year old Aristides captured three of nine races. Richly bred, the colt was sired by imported English stallion Leamington out of dam Sarong, also by Leamington. His bloodlines traced back to the greats — Glencoe, Sir Archy and Diomed. Frank B. Harper's Ten Broeck turned up for the Derby that bettors considered a "mile-and-a-quarter dash." A week earlier Ten Broeck dominated the field (including Aristides) in the two-mile Phoenix Hotel Stakes in Lexington and would go on to reign as one of the turf's all-time long distance runners. The bugle sounded playing "Boots and Saddles," and 15 three-year old colts jogged onto the track in single file. Parading past the judge's stand Aristides tossed his head following a lad on a lead pony. He sported a saddle blanket "as green as the grass of Erin" bound with a bright orange stripe. In one corner big orange letters spelled "McGrathiana" and in the other "Aristides." The topnotch broadcloth was a gift from Aristides Welch of Philadelphia, the celebrated owner of Leamington. The gregarious Irishman had named the compact colt for his friend. A line was drawn in the dirt and the horses stood to start the race. In unison with the rat-tat-tat of a drummer's beat, Colonel William Johnson dropped the flag. The horses sprang into action. McCreery jumped to the lead, stalked by Volcano and Aristides. McGrath's Chesapeake was one of the last away. As they hit the backstretch Aristides surged to the lead with four horses in close pursuit. Favored Chesapeake was stuck in mid-pack. As they rounded the far turn jockey Oliver Lewis — following McGrath's instructions — began to pull back on the chestnut colt a bit to make way for Chesapeake's run to glory. Then Oliver glanced over to the rail at the head of the stretch where McGrath waved his hat frantically and shouted "go on and win it." Aristides sped to the lead and held off a pair of challengers, dashed under the wire and won by two lengths earning a purse of $2,850. His time of 2:37 ¾ was the fastest ever recorded at the distance for a three-year old. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported: "It is the gallant Aristides, heir to a mighty name, that strides with sweeping gallop toward victory … And the air trembles and vibrates again with the ringing cheers that followed." Epilogue Arisitides' trainer Ansel Williams and jockey Oliver Lewis were both African-Americans, a group who played a critical role in shaping early American racing history. A total of 14 of the 15 riders in the first Kentucky Derby were African-American, with African-American jockeys winning 15 of the initial 28 runnings. Born a slave, Williamson was purchased by Robert A. Alexander, the owner of the famous Woodburn Stud in 1864 where Williamson worked as a trainer and breeder. Following Alexander's death in 1867, Williamson went on to train many great horses including Tom Bowling, who won 14 of his 17 races. Williamson won major races such as the Travers Stakes, the Jerome Handicap, and the Wither Stakes and was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1998. Jockey Oliver Lewis is less well known. Born in Fayette County, Ky., Lewis was 19 when he won the 1875 Kentucky Derby. He never rode in another Derby. Instead, he became a successful bookmaker (then a legal enterprise) and wrote detailed handicapping charts similar to what appears in today's Daily Racing Form. Lewis was said to be a good family man who raised six children. He died in 1924, and is buried in Lexington. Henry Price McGrath trained as a tailor before pursuing the quick riches as a gambler and bookmaker. He spent a year in a federal jail in New Orleans for fleecing hard spending Union soldiers. His opulent mansion at McGrathiana was fashioned after the United States Hotel in Saratoga Springs. At his New York gambling house he won $105,000 in a single night. Reportedly, McGrath never had a bank account and had large sums of money, in gold and silver, buried on the farm. One of the most prominent turfmen of his era, he bred numerous brilliant runners, and declared Tom Bowling his greatest. A bachelor all his life, he died in July 1881 at a fashionable resort in Long Branch N. J. from a diseased liver and dropsy. McGrathiana was sold to Colonel Milton Young who continued the farm's tradition as a birthplace of champion racehorses. Sold again in 1915 to C. B. Shaffer of Chicago, the breeding establishment was renamed Coldstream Farm. Today, it is owned by the University of Kentucky. The Coldstream Research Campus is home to 1,000 employees working in biotech, pharmaceutical and equine-related companies. Aristides Boulevard runs alongside Coldwater Farm. The runner-up in the 1875 Belmont Stakes, Aristides was on the lead heading into the stretch when jockey Lewis put the chestnut colt under a fierce hold allowing stablemate Calvin to win. McGrath had placed a hefty bet on Calvin and took home a stunning $30,000. Aristides captured the Jerome Handicap, the Breckinridge, the Withers Stakes and triumphed in a match race over Ten Broeck. In 21 career starts (9-5-1) he earned $18,325, quite a fortune in the day. But with the Derby not yet a famed national event, breeders did not flock to his stable door. Aristides died at the age of 21 at the Fairgrounds of St. Louis. To honor his racing achievements Churchill Downs inaugurated the Aristides Stakes (sprint race) in 1988. The track also commissioned a life-sized bronze statue that now stands in the Clubhouse Gardens as a memorial to the "the little red horse." Terry Conway has been a regular contributor to The Blood-Horse magazine since 2003. He wrote a Sunday column on racing for several years for the Chester County (Pa.) daily newspaper and covers racing and the horse world for a number of regional magazines in the mid-Atlantic area. In addition, he has written many historical articles on the art world and business entrepreneurs for a variety of national and regional magazines. Contact Terry at tconway@terryconway.net
    
   Pedigree LINK
   PDF
   https://www.equineline.com/Free5XPedigreePdf.cfm?page_state=GENERATE&reference_number=5332901&registry=T&horse_name=Aristides&dam_name=Sarong&foaling_year=1872&NICKING_STATS_INDICATOR=Y&include_sire_line=Y&sire_reference_number=0&dam_reference_number=0&color=&sex=&hypo_foaling_year=&breeder=&sig=__NA
    
   The jockey's name is Oliver Lewis
   
   info
   https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-kentucky-derbys-forgotten-jockeys-128781428/
   The Kentucky Derby’s Forgotten Jockeys African American jockeys once dominated the track. But by 1921, they had disappeared from the Kentucky Derby Lisa K. Winkler April 23, 2009
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   ARTICLE CONTINUE
   James Winkfield was a two-time Kentucky Derby winner and raced across Europe after racism kept him from being the best athlete in America's most popular sport. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation When tens of thousands of fans assemble in Louisville, Kentucky, for the Kentucky Derby, they will witness a phenomenon somewhat unusual for today’s American sporting events: of some 20 riders, none are African-American. Yet in the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, 13 out of 15 jockeys were black. Among the first 28 derby winners, 15 were black. African-American jockeys excelled in the sport in the late 1800s. But by 1921, they had disappeared from the Kentucky track and would not return until Marlon St. Julien rode in the 2000 race. African-American jockeys’ dominance in the world of racing is a history nearly forgotten today. Their participation dates back to colonial times, when the British brought their love of horseracing to the New World. Founding Fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson frequented the track, and when President Andrew Jackson moved into the White House in 1829, he brought along his best Thoroughbreds and his black jockeys. Because racing was tremendously popular in the South, it is not surprising that the first black jockeys were slaves. They cleaned the stables and handled the grooming and training of some of the country’s most valuable horseflesh. From such responsibility, slaves developed the abilities needed to calm and connect with Thoroughbreds, skills demanded of successful jockeys. For blacks, racing provided a false sense of freedom. They were allowed to travel the racing circuit, and some even managed their owners’ racing operation. They competed alongside whites. When black riders were cheered to the finish line, the only colors that mattered were the colors of their silk jackets, representing their stables. Horseracing was entertaining for white owners and slaves alike and one of the few ways for slaves to achieve status. After the Civil War, which had devastated racing in the South, emancipated African-American jockeys followed the money to tracks in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. “African Americans had been involved in racing and with horses since the beginning,” says Anne Butler, director of Kentucky State University's Center for the Study of Kentucky African Americans. “By the time freedom came they were still rooted in the sport.” The freed riders soon took center stage at the newly organized Kentucky Derby. On opening day, May 17, 1875, Oliver Lewis, a 19-year-old black native Kentuckian, rode Aristides, a chestnut colt trained by a former slave, to a record-setting victory. Two years later William Walker, 17, claimed the race. Isaac Murphy became the first jockey to win three Kentucky Derbys, in 1884, 1890, and 1891, and won an amazing 44 percent of all the races he rode, a record still unmatched. Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton, at 15 the youngest to win in 1892, was followed by James "Soup" Perkins, who began racing at age 11 and claimed the 1895 Derby. Willie Simms won in 1896 and 1898. Jimmy "Wink" Winkfield, victorious in 1901 and 1902, would be the last African American to win the world-famous race. Murphy, Simms and Winkfield have been inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York. In 2005, Winkfield was also honored with a Congressional House Resolution, a few days before the 131st Derby. Such accolades came long after his death in 1974 at age 91 and decades after racism forced him and other black jockeys off American racetracks. Despite Wink’s winning more than 160 races in 1901, Goodwin's Annual Official Guide to the Turf omitted his name. The rising scourge of segregation began seeping into horse racing in the late 1890s. Fanned by the Supreme Court's 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that upheld the "separate but equal" doctrine, Jim Crow injustice pervaded every social arena, says Butler. “White genteel class, remnants from that world, didn't want to share the bleachers with African American spectators, though blacks continued to work as groomers and trainers," she says.
   PHOTOS
   PHOTO INFO
   1 James Winkfield retired from horse racing in 1930 after a career 2,600 wins. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 2 James Winkfield was a two-time Kentucky Derby winner and raced across Europe after racism kept him from being the best athlete in America's most popular sport. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 3 William Walker was already under contract at the age of 11 to an owner named Wood Stringfield and at the age of 13, he claimed a stakes victory. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 4 Oliver Lewis rode Aristides to victory in the inaugural Kentucky Derby. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 5 In 1892, Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton became the youngest jockey to win the Kentucky Derby at the age of 15. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 6 At the age of 14, James "Soup" Perkins won the Latonia Oaks. The Times called him "the best lightweight jockey of the West." Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 7 Isaac Murphy was one of America's first sports stars. At the age of 14, he rode his first race at Louisville in 1875. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 8 Willie Simms won the Kentucky Derby in 1896 and 1898. Simms also changed the sport of horse racing when he introduced the natural American riding style to England. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation
   ARTICLE CONTINUE
   Racism, coupled with the economic recessions of the period, shrunk the demand for black jockeys as racetracks closed and attendance fell. With intensified competition for mounts, violence on the tracks against black jockeys by white jockeys prevailed without recourse. Winkfield received death threats from the Ku Klux Klan. Anti-gambling groups campaigned against racing, causing more closures and the northern migration of blacks from southern farming communities further contributed to the decline of black jockeys. Winkfield dealt another serious blow to his career by jumping a contract. With fewer and fewer mounts coming his way, he left the United States in 1904 for Czarist Russia, where his riding skills earned him celebrity and fortune beyond his dreams. Fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, he moved to France, raced for another decade and retired in 1930 after a career 2,600 wins. In 1940, Nazis seized his stables, causing Winkfield to return to States, where he signed on to a Works Progress Administration road crew. Back in France by 1953, he opened a training school for jockeys. In 1961, six decades after winning his first Kentucky Derby, Winkfield returned to Kentucky to attend a pre-Derby banquet. When he and his daughter Liliane arrived at Louisville's historic Brown Hotel, they were denied entry. After a long wait and repeated explanations that they were guests of Sports Illustrated, they were finally admitted. Wink died 13 years later in France. After his 1903 run in the Kentucky Derby, black Americans practically disappeared from Goodwin’s official list of jockeys. In 1911 Jess Conley came in third in the derby and in 1921, Henry King placed tenth. Seventy-nine years would pass before another African American would ride in the Derby. Marlon St. Julien took seventh place in 2000. "I'm not an activist,” says St. Julien, who admitted during an interview a few years ago that he didn’t know the history of black jockeys and “started reading up on it.” Reached recently in Louisiana, where he is racing the state circuit, he says “I hope I’m a role model as a rider to anyone who wants to race." Longtime equestrian and Newark, New Jersey, schoolteacher Miles Dean would agree that not enough is known about the nation’s great black jockeys. In an effort to remedy that, he has organized the National Day of the Black Jockey for Memorial Day weekend. The event will include educational seminars, a horse show, parade, and memorial tribute. All events will be held at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. Last year, Dean rode his horse, Sankofa, a 12-year-old Arabian stallion, in a six-month journey from New York to California. He spoke at colleges and communities to draw attention to African American contributions to the history and settlement of the United States. "As an urban educator I see every day the disconnect students have with their past. By acknowledging the contributions of African American jockeys, I hope to heighten children's awareness of their history. It's a history of great achievement, not just a history of enslavement.”
    
   buried
   https://web.archive.org/web/20160104062442/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2-7s95OJiM
   referral info
   Lexington Public Library presents an original documentary production on a historic African-American cemetery and the small band of Lexingtonians who have spent years restoring it. Thousands are buried at African Cemetery No. 2, including the winning jockey of the first Kentucky Derby, Oliver Lewis, a number of Buffalo Soldiers and a member of the Civil Wars's 54th Massachusetts Regiment. The 141-year-old cemetery was neglected and overgrown before volunteers began the work of restoring the grounds and gathering the life stories of those buried there. Produced by the LPL's Cable Channel 20. Edited and Directed by Thom Southerland. Photography by Thai Emmerich.
   VIDEO
   
    
   TRANSCRIPT
   0:06 John Henry Clark who was a noted historian would be 90 some years old if he was still alive said this about 0:12 history he said that history is like a clock it tells of people the historical 0:18 time of day it tells where they've been where they are and where they yet still 0:24 have to go 1:03 African Cemetery number two earliest recorded Cemetery in Lexington to be 1:08 organized owned and managed by African-Americans the site has been in existence since 1869 trusties of 1:16 benevolent Society number two successfully operated Cemetery many individuals buried here were important 1:23 leaders in the community the people buried in that Cemetery are larg 1:30 the people who put a foundation for African-American communities in 1:37 lexingon following the Civil War and the story of these former 1:45 enslaved men and women after emancipation is just graphically told in 1:52 studying their lives they became the leaders the entrepreneurs the business 1:58 people the Civic organizers um they formed fraternal 2:04 organizations they were part of the Masons the col it fair the colored Oran home all of the all of these people are 2:12 buried in this Cemetery early church leaders who found it and organized some of the early churches in Lexington I 2:19 hold very strongly to a belief that when we do not know our history when we do 2:27 not have opportunities to learn about the 2:32 biographies of people who have gone before us then we lose 2:40 opportunities to understand fully who we came from and who we can 2:48 become there are stories here that have been long dormant it's an almost 2:55 forgotten chapter of of Lexington's history this is a spot where so much 3:01 National History is potentially located and yet it's not really well known about 3:07 uh is to me is is a shame and it it's something that needs to be better brought out I have tried to 3:17 unbe information about African-Americans and bring it to light 3:24 so that hopefully the full Kentucky narrative will be more inclusive of the 3:32 contributions that African-Americans have made that the cemetery has gone through so much 3:39 neglect you know renewal desecration vandalism and it's 3:44 still there it's just been amazing that it has survived I mean just truly cuz so 3:50 many cemeteries just get wiped away and this could have been one of them part of restoration is a 3:58 continuation of the work that has been laid here by our foreparents they're 4:05 taking the task to buy the land and create the cemetery was part of a larger 4:12 effort to create Community create a legacy create a safe 4:18 place for their children and their grandchildren and to know that this Cemetery holds their remains it also 4:25 holds their stories you cannot help but uncover their stories when you start 4:32 looking for their names this story out here on Seventh Street with all this 4:37 industry around us and all these railroad tracks is an important story as 4:42 any other story this is your story too whether you are African-American European American Latino um African 4:50 refugees whoever you are wherever you're from that this story is important to you 4:56 as well this story can inspire you 5:06 once you start working in a cemetery and finding the people that you find the 5:11 question is how did this come to 5:26 be in October 185 2 enslaved men 5:33 organized to help each other care for the sick bury the dead and perform other 5:40 acts of Charity this is before emancipation this is after the 1850 5:47 Slave Code law that required all states to identify any person they feel were 5:56 running away uh back at that time you didn't have things like Social Security 6:01 and insurance and stuff like that people banded together like this Cemetery was 6:07 started by Union benevolence Society number two and that was a group of people that banded together and they 6:13 would contribute to the welfare of the members of that Society that's it was sort of a self-help group that group was 6:20 made up of of freed people and enslave people how could people you who we said 6:27 were enslaved who mean couldn't read and couldn't write how could they come out of 6:33 emancipation and be able to buy land and create businesses and start schools 6:40 African-Americans were told yes you are free but you have no rights you know you 6:45 can't vote uh you can't testify in court uh you we don't recognize you as 6:52 having made contributions to our state or city these men and women who came out of 7:02 enslavement uh knew otherwise they knew they had god-given 7:08 talents they knew that they could make a difference the 7:13 cemetery was uh organized and burials began in 7:18 1869 they purchased the first four acres paid $1,000 at 10% interest and they had 7:26 paid for it in 2 years how did they do that and how did they stay 7:31 organized through the Civil War have such a powerful group that after the 7:38 Civil War and after emancipation they had enough money to purchase property 7:43 this was a benevolent Society meaning they didn't get paid to do this and they didn't say to get paid to take care of 7:49 the poor to get paid for any of those things they said that that was what they were supposed to do Henry King and 7:56 Jordan Jackson actually purchased the property from the am family to found the the 8:03 cemetery the initial 4 Acres when the trustees first purchased this property 8:08 the deed said about a mile and a half beyond the city 8:13 limits while this was charitable many of them were exactly that business people 8:19 and they knew that they had to run this organization the cemeteries and everything that else that they were 8:24 affiliated with in a very businesslike manner by April of 1875 they had 8:29 purchased another for is a joining their first four and they paid for that in 2 8:35 months how is it that these people who are supposed to be ignorant who had no 8:40 education or very little education knew enough to say yes we matter and we're 8:49 going to show you we matter they ban together they formed the school 8:54 committees they formed the self-help organizations that moved African Americans who had newly been freed out 9:02 of enslavement and poverty and so you know we find the early Educators there 9:10 the early ministers just Community Builders in general those who were 9:16 starting organizations and so 9:23 on you know there's a lot of history here not only for African-Americans for 9:29 the City of Lexington and the state of Kentucky the women who were be there there are founders of the colored orphan 9:35 home for that was founded in 1892 they Incorporated they spent two years 9:43 raising money in order to purchase property and a home and they started started a color offing home with pennies 9:50 okay a group of women got together and they put pennies together to Star this colored Oran and Industrial home whose 9:58 purpose was to to care for Orphans and elderly women uh the City of Lexington 10:04 was supporting the white orphan home but there was no room at all for African-American children Jane Sanders 10:11 has a wonderful headstone it's a pillow in the cemetery and on that pillow I had 10:17 to do a rubbing in order to see this but it says founder of the color orphan home 10:24 1894 Priscilla Lacy she was one of the first treasurers uh uh she was a laundry 10:32 lady so she wasn't you know she didn't have Buu bucks but she evidently was 10:37 very trustworthy because they selected her as their their first treasure and she remained treasure until her death 10:43 Mary Gillis was one of the founding members she was a member of first African church and she uh according to 10:50 their information she remained a Sunday school teacher for almost 62 years Charlotte POG was a um matron at the 10:59 home home when it first opened and all of these women took turns at keeping the 11:05 orphan home running they had what I call household duties keeping the day-to-day operation 11:11 and they took turns every week somebody would be responsible they would be the supervisor for what was going on they 11:18 had kitchen Industries they helped the children learn skills that would carry them through life as well as to be 11:24 gainfully employed they had a shoe shop um they had a bakery they had 11:59 the F went down to 12:04 Kentucky just to play the foul it's a Mighty Fine Place you all 12:13 ought to go there the color fair was an organization that promoted the idea that 12:20 African-Americans need to showcase the progress they had made since emancipation it two was for organized in 12:28 1869 but it was a activity that became the largest fair in all the state of 12:34 Kentucky they had visitors from Indiana from Ohio they would ship in here by train they were very very successful and 12:42 established a Amphitheater a racing track went out to the RAC track races 12:49 hadn't started yet we're now to the RAC track races 12:56 hadn't started yet someone said c sloppy boys and I swear 13:04 it was almost all the early jockies uh in our country were 13:09 African-American almost all the Grooms all the trainers all the blacksmiths and 13:15 many of them are buried right here we know that there were at least 80 involved in the industry and the thir 13:22 bread industry would not have developed as thoroughly had it not been for the 13:27 African-Americans presence there's nothing on any of the stones except for one that tell you what his 13:34 profession was there is a a young man Joseph Scott who died at the age of 16 13:40 and all it says is a jockey no one has been able to find 13:45 out who he rode for where he died nothing he was 16 and you ask your question how could a 13:53 child this age be riding African-Americans were put on the horses 13:59 as young child they were introduced to the industry as young children 6 Seven 8 years old they were working in the 14:06 stables and as they got older and developed an affinity for the horses you 14:12 began to sense how to handle them uh groomsmen trainers owners would observe 14:19 this as they developed this this uh Talent OR showed the talent that they 14:26 had they would be put on horses and they would ride actually guide them in 14:31 races quite a few Kentucky Derby winners are buried in that Cemetery in 14:38 1875 the first Kentucky Derby was run and out of the field of 15 jockeys 13 of 14:45 them were African-American the winning jockey was Oliver Lewis he's buried in 14:51 our Cemetery unfortunately his name is not not on the family headstone his uh 14:56 brother and mother's name is Dr and Butler good for her she tracked this 15:01 story down the only thing information that I could find about Oliver Lewis was 15:09 that he um won the first Kentucky Derby and he was running uh riding aises 15:17 there's a tragedy there that there's a statue of aises the first horse to Wi to 15:23 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs but there's none of Oliva LS or of anel 15:29 who trained the very first horse to win the Kentucky Derby who was also an African-American there is much 15:36 information about you know the uh bloodline of atitis and so on but I 15:42 couldn't figure out when ol valis was either born or died we sat at the table 15:48 eating dinner and an Dr Butler pulled out this uh big stack of death 15:54 certificates and split them in half and gave me a half and she took a half and she said said Bruce I'm looking for 16:00 Oliver Lewis who won the first Kentucky Derby see if you could find this thing with his name on it when I first started 16:05 doing research archival research I was told I would never find information about African-Americans it would be very 16:11 hard because I was telling people I was looking for my family and they said oh you'll never find it it you can't 16:17 there's nothing there and there's it's not true it is not true I glean through 16:23 a lot of the records at Kean in their Library couldn't find anything and 16:31 ultimately ran across an obituary that mentioned Oliver Lewis The 16:39 Once famous jockey it listed survivors his of his family and she finally 16:47 discovered that um Oliver Lewis had settled in the Northern Kentucky area 16:52 and there was a possibility that they were descendants it turned out to be ala Lewis's 16:57 great-granddaughter she said she called the lady and told her who she was she was Dr Anne Butler Kentucky State 17:03 University and she would like to come up and talk to her and the lady said well 17:08 we knew our father was in grandfather was involved in the industry because he 17:13 was a bookie well my ears you know really perked up to hear that Oliver 17:19 Lewis after ending his racing career ended up being a a booking which then 17:26 was a legal occupation but she was dismissive of that information because 17:33 by the early 30s and 40s uh bookies were uh almost like gangsters you know it was 17:40 considered as gamblers and I'm sitting there knowing 17:46 that oliv vouis developed a racing 17:51 chart a racing form used at the tracks which eventually involved in becoming 17:56 the modern day racing form I pulled out a picture of Oliver Lewis 18:03 and said this is the man I am looking for and she went oh my God the 18:13 tragedy of not knowing is that this woman did not know her great-grandfather 18:19 had won the first Kentucky Derby I could not describe the the the joy at 18:30 introducing this woman to the legacy of her great 18:36 grandfather there's a unique Monument over here an individual named 18:42 cases Clay tankersley on his Monument it said that he was killed at a race at the 18:50 lonia racetrack which is in Northern Kentucky he was 20 years old when this occurred he was riding with the um Piana 18:59 Farm borack um Thomas was the owner Mr 19:05 Thomas had a monument commissioned for him and he has this wonderful 19:10 inscription on the monument telling you know how much he respected this young man as a as a gentleman sup Perkins 19:18 James Su Perkins winner of the 1895 Kentucky Derby is buried there he tied a 19:25 record as being the youngest jockey to have won a derby uh in Lexington he grew up on Thomas 19:31 Street there's a marker that says Perkins beautiful white marker but again 19:37 his name is not on it the famous jockey uh aaac Murphy was 19:45 originally buried here now since then they've moved his Stone out of the cemetery but this is still is known as 19:52 his original burial place he was originally buried in the cemetery in 1896 and he was subsequently moved moved 19:59 to uh to a grave beside Mana War and then manaar and Isaac Murphy were subsequently moved to the Kentucky Horse 20:06 Park what that means is Isaac Murphy was literally buried and reburied the same 20:14 number of times that he won the Kentucky Derby 20:19 three thought I went to see the they call 20:26 man I went to see man W the horse that had 20:33 Le and my baby say he fair but he really haven't got 20:39 my one of the heartaches that I experienced over Isaac Murphy was that 20:47 um the people uh making the decision about 20:52 reentering him forgot about his wife Luc see okay and 21:00 they were from what I can tell virtually Inseparable during life you know and it 21:08 does not sit well with me that she remains in uh an unmarked 21:21 grave our Cemetery holds the remains of 21:27 all economic Strat of the African-American community and some of the stones are so beautiful they 21:33 were just to me Exquisite I mean it's amazing because they were produced in a 21:39 time when they were handcrafted they weren't poured in a in a mold or uh had 21:44 a standard pattern almost every stone in there is 21:55 different there were people in there too poor to put a monument on their grave sites there were people who had friends 22:02 and relatives who actually handcrafted The Monuments and to 22:09 me that that said more than uh having the money to buy one there is a grave 22:17 over in the front left part of the cemetery the uh marker is is broken in 22:25 two but it's it's still very legible and you can put the two pieces together and 22:31 it says Sally B Ford and she died when she was I believe 22:37 7 years old and the marker is it's a very crude 22:43 marker the uh the lettering on it was not cut into the stone it was it appears 22:49 to have been a concrete marker and they they drew it in the wet concrete 23:05 does an African saying that when an elder dies a library closes so I started 23:11 doing the research to find out who the people were and what they had done while they were living and they became family 23:17 to 23:23 me ah Mr Jones is one of my favorite persons here in the cemetery he became 23:28 pre as a result of the will of Elizabeth Parker who was mared Todd Lincoln's 23:35 grandmother his notation importance to us is that he saved funeral notices from 23:44 1806 to 1886 his collection of death notices larger than anyone else's in in 23:51 the state Moses Spencer was one of the free blacks here in the community had 23:56 gained his freedom about 183 33 he became a merchant he owned a used 24:03 furniture business on Broadway uh Clayborn Lee he died when he 24:08 was 111 years old in 1902 so that mean he was born in the late 1700s right so I did a little digging 24:16 and and found out he was a deacon at one of the uh the churches here in Lexington one of the more interesting characters 24:22 that we know is buried in the cemetery is Alexander Campbell vinegar most 24:28 people know him as Peter menar he was a minister here in Lexington he used to 24:34 preach these friy and brimstone uh sermons because the newspaper talked 24:39 about the titles uh not everybody appreciated his sermons from what I've learned Edward Jackson um was a Dairy 24:47 Farmer in Lexington remained in Lexington had 12 children and they all survived and he was probably the only 24:54 African-American in in Lexington that actually had a dairy farm Mr fa was the 25:00 first principal of dumbar high school when it opened in 1923 he wrote a history of education in 25:07 Kentucky as part of his thesis work when he got his master's degree 25:12 James Andrew Scott they called him Andrew he became the first uh 25:19 African-American hired by the United States Postal Service as a male carrier in 1892 birdie Taylor she was an 25:27 educator she was a teacher teacher and she uh Advanced from being a teacher in 25:33 County schools at Maddox toown and Warren toown to County supervisor and 25:38 from there she went on to uh Statewide supervisor for the Eastern uh Kentucky 25:45 counties her tombstone is beautiful it has this beautiful Betty lamp if you 25:51 know what I'm people know what I'm talking about it's a Betty lamp but it's an engraved symbol on her grave side 26:25 you don't you get we there are a lot of individuals with a 26:30 military background buried in the in the cemetery we like to focus on the Buffalo 26:36 Soldiers because Kentucky was one of the recruiting grounds for the Buffalo Soldiers Leslie Bohanan was in company C 26:44 of the 24th Infantry in the Spanish American war Joseph bird it was in company uh G 26:50 of the fifth us Cavalry he was at atics at the end of the Civil War so if you 26:56 think about the role that African-American am an and the union played Kentucky being one of the largest 27:01 suppliers of African-American troops to the union GT prer fought with the 54th 27:07 Massachusetts Infantry and that was the first African-American unit that was formed in the Civil War and fought in 27:13 the Civil War and if you've seen the movie Glory you kind of like know the story that they uh attacked a fort and a 27:21 lot of them were killed he was captured at Fort Wagner he was released after 27:26 some uh some months rejoined his unit and eventually paroled and while it's interesting that 27:33 he fought at Fort Wagner as part of that part of that unit what's even more interesting is the fight that he had 27:40 with the government pension Bureau to get a pension equivalent to white soldiers at that time and there's a 27:46 series of letters back and forth between prer and the pension Bureau he is one of 27:52 the most elegant writers I have ever seen and it was by accident if you read his his re West uh he talks about having 28:00 fought as bravely as any other person but he's only getting half the pension but what we don't know is whether he 28:06 ever got his pension or not so that's one of those unknown unknown stories that would be interesting as a child we 28:12 weren't taught any of these things we knew nothing about the Buffalo Soldiers here or the Civil War soldiers that were 28:19 here that you know the noble effort that those these people made really there was no chance to celebrate it because people 28:27 just didn't know about it 28:33 rco Benjamin uh was a a lawyer a 28:38 newspaper man uh um who lived in Lexington and uh he was killed in a 28:46 fight probably shot in the back I believe 29:01 Mr Benjamin was not a native of Kentucky he was born in u the West Indies In 29:09 1855 he educated himself became an attorney Mr Benjamin was a well-liked 29:15 individual he had been editor of the Lexington standard which was an 29:20 African-American newspaper here in Lexington while he was here he was an advocate for civil rights and he 29:28 encouraged African-Americans to go to the polls and register to vote and this would have been in 1900 people were not 29:34 happy particularly the the Europe european-american Community was not totally happy with Mr Benjamin and his 29:41 agitation for human rights and he actually escorted them to the poll to make sure they got there while he was 29:48 there he heard um the registar asking inappropriate questions while they were 29:55 trying to register so he challenged him there was a a gentleman who was a democratic supporter and he challenged 30:03 Mr Benjamin they got into an argument and a fight and Mr Benjamin filed a 30:10 arrest work a an assault warrant against this man Mike Monahan the sheriff picked 30:16 him up but they didn't put him in jail they released him Mr benjaman did not 30:22 know that so he returned to the polls to take another group of African-Americans and when he arrived Mike Monahan was 30:29 there Mr Benjamin knew that his life was in Peril so he left hurriedly Mike Monahan followed behind him and shot him 30:37 in the 30:48 back unfortunately there was no trial uh Mr Monahan we don't know what 30:54 ever happened to him but he was never brought up on the charge essentially we feel that he was murdered 31:01 and there was no ever justification for it all of the newspapers The Hurl the leader the standard they all were just 31:10 incensed at what had happened it was just a sad situation but we're privileged to have him here to have his 31:17 remains stay here and uh know that we can tell his story even though his life 31:23 was cut short he was about 45 years old when he died and it took them 10 years to finally place a monument at Mr 31:30 Benjamin's grave site but when they did it again was a uh 31:36 Citywide recognition of this man and the contributions he had made to our community so the cemetery I think uh 31:45 represents that sense of of of of of post 31:50 emancipation uh need to build community this post-emancipation period of Renaissance of of of saying well you 31:58 know even though uh you know we we're faced with all kind of Jim Crow laws and 32:03 and the riding Night Riders and the KKK and and all kind of uh examples of Oppression and racism we still have to 32:11 build community when I leave Kentucky I know I really can't 32:18 lose I'm coming back to my baby but I'll have the Le 32:30 it's always puzzled us as to why the cemetery just became so neglected 32:37 Cemetery number two had been in operation over 40 years and they had 32:44 used probably all the available burial spaces the area around them had been 32:50 developed uh the railroad track behind them the lden Avenue um 32:55 subdivision so they were encroached there was no way to go as Society changed uh integration 33:04 started to take place the the community in this neighborhood started to change 33:10 the the African-Americans here started to move to other sections of the town I think the last um records that they have 33:18 where they had any interaction with that group was in U 1932 and that's when the 33:23 majority of the early organizers in the subsequent generation after to them 33:28 started dying out and the cemetery became abandoned and so the cemetery just sort of fell into 33:35 disuse and because the people who had a connection to this Cemetery had moved 33:42 away the whole thing kind of just died down and and became overgrown and people 33:49 tended to forget about it 33:58 and 34:33 and I remember in the 50s driving around we' drive around on Sunday sort of family 34:39 entertainment and I remember driving down 7th Street here and seeing this 34:45 cemetery and at that time it was just overgrown and trash and junk and it was 34:51 just disgusting and uh and it I was about 10 years old at the time 34:58 and it made me wonder how a city could allow that to happen to a cemetery I'd never seen a cemetery in that kind of 35:05 condition before I have talked to people who grew up in the neighborhood and they remember passing through the cemetery 35:11 they remember playing in the cemetery I mean I was probably down in here as a kid I grew up in aspendale which was a 35:16 housing project up OFF Fifth Street and we used to come down in here and play 35:23 pick blackberries raspberries things like that but uh other than that I 35:28 didn't know anything about the cemetery in fact many people were frightened to come here scared of snakes and whatever 35:34 that was here but it was pretty much not cleared and so you had to almost uh cut your way through well I never did go 35:42 down in there and I work night shift at a 35:47 hospital and when I would go out I'd always look over in there just to make sure nothing was coming out to meet me 35:53 when we first moved here it was high would weed and just a lot of growth over there and 36:02 they lot of nice tombstones and stuff was there and they got misplaced and 36:08 broke up a couple of years after that it got so high that you couldn't even see the taller ston and the other thing 36:14 about the cemetery had never been enclosed it was always open just like it had been when they first bought it there 36:21 were had been some wire fence strung along the Shropshire Avenue side and of course along the junkyard side but the 36:27 front and back entrances were always open so people would cross the railroad track come into the cemetery and walk up 36:34 uh 7th Street go Chestnut wherever they wanted to and vice versa and people were dumping uh old refrigerators mattress 36:43 there were people that would come in here and uh U uh homeless people would sleep in here at one time there was a I 36:50 don't know it was a homeless person or what but there was someone actually camped out living down in in the back 36:56 portion of it uh there was one character in the mid 37:01 1900s that Neighbors in this uh area there on Seventh Street talked about and 37:07 his name was lost John he wore a top hat and tails and he walked the streets 37:13 played H Monica he hung out down at the courthouse I understand in the court square and he also walked up and down 37:20 second uh seven Street and several people have said that he helped care for the cemetery 37:30 I'm Going Back Where I Come I'm going back down in Georgia my wife died and 37:37 left me that's I'm going back Georgia you know it's it's just a vague memory 37:42 of me coming to this Cemetery with my grandmother and she would have uh shears 37:47 and she would have all kind of garden tools to try to clean it up you know around the site and then she would plant 37:54 a flower my father many many years ago used to bring me over to the old 38:01 Cemetery to uh on Memorial Day to Remember and clear the grave and that sort of thing so I would know where the 38:07 spot was but it really it was just a wild place it was totally unkempt it was 38:15 um it was in many ways just disregarded and disrespected because nobody was taking care of it uh residents were 38:23 complaining about the vagrants in and out of the cemetery 38:30 about the unkempt condition and the newspaper would have a picture in the paper every year showing how uncapped it 38:37 looked the weeds were higher than the cars I mean truly you couldn't even see you wouldn't know that it was a cemetery 38:43 except they said it was and even though Cemetery number two became 38:51 neglected and it was overgrown because there wasn't a generation that stepped forward to save it 38:58 it still remained unfortunately the cemeteries in 39:05 Lexington once they became overfilled and neglected many of them were 39:11 desecrated uh the city would declare the properties abandoned and they would have the bodies 39:18 removed sometimes many times not and they would just crush the headstones to 39:23 be used on foundations uh or just you know destroyed from 1973 when they started 39:31 documenting um this issue with the cemetery to 1979 the city had assigned 39:37 it to Parks and Recreation well it got to be more than they could take care of so the city decided in 79 after they had 39:44 merged to declare the land abandoned and sell portions of it for development and 39:50 keep a small part for a park they were going to remove all the bodies and 39:56 remove the headstones and place them in another location but in order to do that they had to know how many people were 40:03 buried in the cemetery oral history accounts indicated that there were 3 to 40:09 4,000 uh burials in the cemetery and yet the only surviving document that listed 40:18 the burials uh numbered to around 900 40:23 they hired a company out of uh Owingsville richardon Corporation and he came in and 40:29 determined that there were over 5,000 burials no one had anticipated that 40:35 number at all so then the issue became we don't have the money a to finish 40:41 paying this man for determining how many burials are here cuz he was getting a 40:46 dollar per grave and we don't have the money to disiner this many bodies and move them someplace else by this time um 40:56 people in the community had heard what was going on and they were not happy and and when it was truly threatened there 41:04 were individuals in this community who knew the value of the cemetery and stepped forward and formed the 41:12 organization that saved it so mayor James zato was sitting at the time he 41:18 appointed a committee Reverend HH Green in 1979 was one of the first board members 41:25 he was elected chair of the group that became known as African Cemetery number two they 41:32 Incorporated and he started drawing people into the organization talking to 41:39 descendants uh getting Community Support so that particular generation in 41:47 1979 said we shouldn't allow it to be overrun we shouldn't allow it to be 41:54 desecrated we shouldn't allow it to be con considered abandoned and bodies 41:59 disent teered this is not how we respect our dad so from that 42:05 group for 10 years they operated Reverend green died in 1986 but another gentleman Reverend GM 42:14 Smith he was a minister stepped into the leadership position and he along with other 42:20 churches here in Lexington contined to care for the cemetery again we went through periods of um of of like 42:27 restoration and neglect and we C it a jungle in here uh there's all kinds of 42:35 you know evasive Honeysuckle and bushes and bramble bushes were just everywhere 42:41 it looked better but it was still UNC kept it didn't look as it didn't look like Lexington Cemetery you know it 42:47 wasn't well groomed cuz they could not go in there every every day to do any kind of Maintenance work you start with 42:54 another 10year cycle and Thomas M and Bruce Monday come along and see that 43:00 things have gotten out of hand again and they step into the 43:10 void we kind of like came in around the time that the last of those members were 43:18 still alive their grandparents were buried here and Thomas decided he couldn't necessarily clean the whole 43:24 Cemetery but he was going to clean up his grandparents grave the day I did come my brother was up to the front 43:29 trying to find my grandparents Tombstone which he did and when he found it it was 43:35 so dirty and covered with algae that he put it in the back of his pickup truck 43:40 this I just will never forget he put it in the back of his pickup truck and took it through the car wash I thought oh my 43:48 goodness I thought you're not supposed to do that but when he showed me where the stone was the Stone's beautiful it 43:55 got it clean and you can read it very plainly my brother Thomas was the 44:01 instigator of a lot of this stuff he was in there more than anybody he passed 44:06 daily he enlisted friends and just asked him for one hour a week just come over 44:13 and help me for 1 hour a week well Thomas is very persuasive and he said 44:18 can you do that and I said well yes I can and he said good come back next 44:23 Saturday well Thomas um pested uh Pam Miller mayor Pam Miller to 44:30 death at that time and before long he had people coming and the board got 44:35 reconstituted and it actually looked pretty good and we got a couple of 44:40 Grants we were able to buy some equipment and we came in here and we started just trying to make the place 44:50 presentable the children the the children 44:58 in the water in 45:06 the the going to trouble 45:22 the most of the people who became intricately involved in the cemetery I 45:28 don't remember how I met them okay they just showed up I got 45:34 started with the cemetery after I read an article in the paper I saw that and I 45:40 thought that's the cemetery that I remember when I was a child I had a friend that was working over 45:45 here and uh he asked me to come over and help him uh one hour month and no soon I 45:52 came in he left and I haven't seen him no more so it's almost like I took his place I loaded my lawnmower in the in 45:59 the back of the car and came over here and I've been coming pretty much every Saturday since there are people who um 46:08 you know go there religiously practically every Saturday and do the 46:13 mowing when we came in here there was Japanese nut Sage overtaking the 46:18 cemetery up to your chest it's not a it's not a piece of property that can simply be left alone we used to make fun 46:25 of him because he had this machete and he was going through the cemetery trying to cut the whole Cemetery with 46:30 this machete and we like that fool can't cut that Cemetery with machete well strangely enough he did he Mark worked 46:37 tiously he still works tirelessly to uh maintain this uh Cemetery to maintain 46:43 this sacred place what you see now is really the culmination of uh over 15 46:50 years I guess now of work although it was very difficult to keep up with the grass there just weren't enough people 46:57 and we didn't have the big heavy duty mower it was mostly push mowers and string Cutters but really a lot of hard 47:04 hand labor trying to keep ahead of the of the vegetation when I first came here 47:11 we didn't have the mes that we have now and uh I thought that I could pretty 47:16 much make a a big impact with a push mow and at the same time I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get 47:22 exercise in the push more well it it really I didn't accomplish much and it kind of wor me out so so later I uh I 47:30 purchased me a self Propel Mo cuz I really thought with a Seth Propel Mo I could really get something done and uh 47:36 it's eight acres here and a Seth bmore didn't do as much good either but actually what I found is that uh uh when 47:45 we you think about various forms of quiet time even though I'm on a mower uh 47:51 every weekend it's actually very quiet contemplative time for me so it's a it's a chance to get away from from everyone 47:57 cuz no one wants to help you when you're when you're mowing it's a stress reliever and even though I don't have 48:03 any family in here you know I do enjoy my my time spent in here after you've 48:09 mowed for for weeks and weeks and weeks and you go by the same tombstones and 48:14 you read the inscriptions you kind of get to know the people they're more like 48:20 family so you you know you want to be sure that they're taken care of well I tell you when I was cutting up in the 48:27 front part the middle section uh and as you cut and you kind of look at the names on it you I was cutting one day 48:33 and I looked down and my name was on one of them so usually when I get to that one I give it extra special attention 48:40 and I even put flowers on it every year I recall numerous times we were back in 48:46 the back just trying to repair the chain link fence and people would come by and 48:51 tear it down and we repair it again and even though we have a fence put in we always were going to have trouble 48:58 keeping out the the other vegetation coming back in so this is an ongoing struggle to make sure that we can keep 49:05 the property of the cemetery wellmaintained and and cleared 49:10 out there was a summer 2003 I believe when someone came 49:17 in with a vehicle and knocked over 36 Stones it 49:22 just just was more than any of us could deal with I mean some of of the prettiest stones that we had the largest 49:29 stones that we had 49:38 Jus to walk 49:46 with we talk about the sadness of uh vandalism and it is sad but there's a 49:54 Christ Christian scripture that says but joy comes in the morning okay we are now 50:01 in the morning of the cemetery and so more than sadness I feel Joy this place 50:07 has a 200 I'm not really sure what the figure is some, fence around it that it's on 50:15 the national register of historic places that tours are done on it Joy comes in 50:22 the morning and so while we know that some things that have been done here 50:28 that are sad once again I say Joy comes in the morning what a glorious morning 50:34 it's a beautiful day today isn't 50:45 it the project both the preservation of the 50:52 cemetery the research efforts are part of an ongoing struggle for 50:59 African-Americans to retain vestiges of africanamerican 51:06 Heritage where we can and it is even a 51:13 struggle to maintain the sight as a sacred burial 51:22 ground our great grandparents uh grandfathers grandmothers 51:27 uh before emancipation post emancipation had recognized the need to create again 51:33 cemeteries schools or his businesses and they said well we're going to do our 51:38 work in our lifetime and we're passing on the Baton what I hope will happen is 51:45 that it will it it will continue to provide a sense of living 51:52 history for the community because it's important that we keep this early 51:57 reminder of who we are where we've come from and how we progressed so I think at 52:05 the point now uh where we are we have the fence around it most of the stones 52:10 are all up we've kind of gotten down to a science how to keep the grass cut uh 52:15 things like that I think now what we trying to do is create this greater 52:21 sense of awareness in the community part of our work early on 52:27 was just to bring young people in here and have them walk in here and get over the fear of being in the cemetery it's 52:34 always glorious to come in here with young people and have them discover things and 52:41 see what they connect up with I don't know exactly how long I've been coming here it seems like as long as I can 52:48 remember it's a nice Cemetery you know it's like a nice place it's not creepy 52:54 at all there's a Emma Bailey's tomb Stone it's like over there behind the bush that's been like my favorite I 53:01 don't know why I just like I like the way it looked it was just really pretty so I remember I'd come like each time I 53:07 came here I'd always end i' go over there I'd like pick a flower and I'd put it there as a present for Emma 53:17 Bailey none of us get paid to do this it's it's all volunteer and we all find 53:23 our passions and this is a passion for the group that's working now now and we'll be passion for the next group that 53:29 comes in behind us the more people know about it then the more they can care for it and take care of it before a lot of 53:37 people didn't know those who did know knew it through 53:42 weeds and overgrown bushes and so it wasn't a comfortable place to come to 53:50 while they had heard stories that didn't get to look the stories in the face now 53:55 you can come look the St is in the 54:07 face you come out here on uh any given morning or late in the afternoon this is 54:13 really a pleasant place to just come and just relax when I 54:20 first came into the cemetery basically I was looking for my own family I had 54:26 asked my mother to go with me and point out uh the headstones that she recalled her great aunt decorating she showed me 54:34 an area she couldn't tell me exactly where the stones were but she showed me the area where she thought they were 54:41 buried after seeing what it had came from and where it was headed uh I 54:46 started volunteering then I end up being on the board and I found out so much history about the 54:53 cemeter uh that I got more and more involved in so now at this point uh it's just a 55:00 label of love for me and as I walked through the cemetery I begun to see these headstones of my 55:09 family when I finally finished uh counting and and recording 55:15 information from all the headstones I discovered I had 42 family members 55:21 buried on my maternal side buried in that cemetery and it was it was almost 55:27 overwhelming for me this cemetery is part of this whole National effort to 55:35 lift up uh if you will all the history all the people who have made this 55:41 country what it is and as I started doing the archival research I found that 55:49 I had relatives who had been instrumental in starting the cemetery and keeping it going during their 55:54 lifetime so then it became a personal 56:01 Journey this tells where we've been and so it's important because we 56:08 need to know that we need to know the struggles and we need to know the 56:15 victories they established the cemetery it was up to a Next 56:21 Generation and sometimes it skips a generation I happen to be that person 56:27 there is a poem that says every tribe has a 56:35 Storyteller and each uh storyteller's responsibility is 56:42 to tell the story of those who've gone before you and that's what I 56:47 do the world's a good place and I only purpose on it is to do good 56:54 work the some cemetery is sort of like a time machine when you're out on sth Street 57:01 you're out on the road in the sidewalk and there are big heavy trucks going by and a lot of traffic and everything but 57:07 the minute you come through those Gates it gets quiet and peaceful and you hear the birds and you the wind blowing 57:14 through the trees and it's a different atmosphere the minute you cross that 57:20 line and you look around and you see the markers and you read the inscriptions and these are the people 57:27 some of the people that helped build this town long before I lived here so we 57:34 owe these people a debt of gratitude and 57:41 respect and helping to maintain the cemetery is is how I do that 57:58 I think this is the one of the prettiest Stones we have has 58:05 a a hand male and female 58:16 hand like in holy matrimony 58:55 see and 59:05 am amen amen join me 59:22 sisters brothers 59:33 am
    
   wiki
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Lewis
    
   The trainer's name is Ansel Williamson
    
   info
   https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/trainer/ansel-williamson
   Ansel Williamson Ansel Williamson’s career spanned the pre-Civil War era of the three-mile heat races into the dawning of the single or “dash” races. Born a slave in Virginia, the point from which his record can be traced with confidence begins in the South around 1860. Inducted 1998 Born 1806, Virginia Died 1881, Lexington, Kentucky Career 1860-1881 Biography Ansel Williamson’s career spanned the pre-Civil War era of the three-mile heat races into the dawning of the single or “dash” races. Born a slave in Virginia, the point from which his record can be traced with confidence begins in the South around 1860. For owner T. G. Goldsby, Williamson trained the horse Brown Dick for important victories in New Orleans, Charleston, Atlanta, and Mobile. Williamson was sold to A. Keene Richards and trained the noted runners Australian and Glycerna. He was sent in 1864 to work for R. A. Alexander of the famed Woodburn Stud in Kentucky. Williamson was then freed but remained in Alexander’s employ and trained a succession of major horses, including the undefeated pair Norfolk and Asteroid. Norfolk won the inaugural Jersey Derby of 1864. “Old Ansel,” as he was referred to in contemporary accounts, later worked for H. P. McGrath and trained Hall of Fame member Tom Bowling, winner in 14 of 17 races, including the Travers, Jersey Derby, and Dixie. In 1875, Williamson trained Aristides, winner of the inaugural Kentucky Derby. That year, Williamson also won the Belmont with Calvin. Both horses were owned by McGrath. Other noted horses trained by Williamson included Merrill, winner of the 1866 Travers; Virgil, the dam of Hall of Fame member Hindoo; as well as Aaron Pennington, Chesapeake, and Susan Ann. Other major races won by Williamson included the Jerome, Phoenix, and Withers. Achievements Triple Crown Highlights Won the 1875 Kentucky Derby — Aristides Won the 1875 Belmont Stakes — Calvin
    
   
   Reproduction of an 1864 Edward Troye portrait of Asteroid with his trainer, Ansel Williamson, holding saddle on right (Keeneland Library)
    
   

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