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Friday, January 23. 2009

Bet you didn't know this

Black lawn jockeys - old horse hitching posts - used to be common sights but have largely disappeared across the Eastern US. Some have been changed to whiteface.


How many folks realize that these statues of grooms, which many assume to be degrading images of servitude, were used as the secret road-markers for the Underground Railroad?


As such, they deserve to be preserved with pride and pleasure for the good and just service they provided to runaway, freedom-seeking slaves.


Oftentimes, PC insanity destroys meaningful history.

Posted by The Barrister in History at 12:53 | Comments (17) | Trackbacks (0)

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"Oftentimes, PC insanity destroys meaningful history."

Almost as much as ignorance. If "Underground Railroad Markers " became the common wisdom, I bet they'd get popular again - then would dissappear because of theft.
#1 commander clopfelter (Link) on 2009-01-23 13:44 (Reply)
would you like to buy one i have one in very good condition,i just finished stripping the paint off him he is the original cast iron groomsmen
#1.1 robert livolsi (Link) on 2010-07-04 09:48 (Reply)
I never knew this. These Groomsmen always looked creepy to me.

There was a song that Frank Zappa did in 1974, called "Uncle Remus", in which the closing lines talked about ..."knockin' the jockeys, off the rich people's lawns..."

If this story was common knowledge, I would proudly have a jockey. The Underground Railroad is a proud memory of our nation, and many people lost their lives for our freedoms.

In reality, "liberals" would feel empowered to attack my home in the night, out of their support of civil rights.

PC=Enabling Thoughtcrime in America
#2 Barco Sin Vela (Link) on 2009-01-23 13:53 (Reply)
I didn't know the lawn jockeys had any significance either. You are quite right about PC destroying unwanted history, Barrister. Good post.
#3 feeblemind on 2009-01-23 16:01 (Reply)
I thought Al Gore invented the lawn jockey, and Joe Biden rode on the underground railroad.
#4 Guido on 2009-01-23 16:55 (Reply)
I think it's just as important to get Garden Gnomes out of people's yards. They are an insensitive affront to vertically challenged people.
#5 Jim on 2009-01-23 16:58 (Reply)
today in history whamo started mass producing the frizbee
#6 Twirl on 2009-01-23 16:59 (Reply)
By the way, you haven't touched on the other un-PC American icon, the Cigar Store Indian!
#7 Jim on 2009-01-23 17:04 (Reply)
This is off thread, but just in case anyone wants to calibrate antennae over the weekend:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLL_en&q=geithner+summers+soros+asian+crisis&btnG=Search

John Rutledge (businessman, professor, public sevant, commentator, economist, and well-known China expert, often on FoxBizChannel, look him up too) today said that Geithner's strong language (see any news aggregator)against China on his day one, most likely came from Larry Summers, not Obama, and that this group is "the guys who brought you the Asian Financial Crisis" during the Clinton admin (just resuscitated BTW in our new Secretary of State).

George Soros has been accused of promoting that crisis, and profiting richly from it. Several high government ministers of the affected national currencies directly accused him --esp well-documented by the Malaysian finance minister (look it up).

Geithner & Summers both have extensive Asian experience, and one of the big brass rings USA unions are reaching for is a breakup of the global trade system that is helping every soul on earth except high-cost manufacturing unions.

A break with China is the key to breaking the global system --already strained by the Democrats' Fan & Fred engineered global financial meltdown.

Trade wars turn into shooting wars mighty quickly. We think we got trouble now, wait for a shooting war with a major power.
#8 buddy larsen on 2009-01-23 17:07 (Reply)
not to buzzkill, but the "only Geithner can do it" cry for Treasury Secretary is a huge tell --everyone on the Wharton faculty can do it, and that's just Wharton --Geithner was mandatory (even as a tax scofflaw IRS chief) because of some other reason. "Gang member" comes to mind.
#9 buddy larsen on 2009-01-23 17:24 (Reply)
oops --i just did a "habu"!
:-\
#10 buddy larsen on 2009-01-23 18:06 (Reply)
My wife's got one of those. She's from underground railroad country, southern Ohio.
#11 bob on 2009-01-23 21:59 (Reply)
I want one for a toilet paper holder. I think I'll call him Obama...
#12 Nozzle on 2009-01-23 23:07 (Reply)
I smell urban legend here.

Were cast iron "jockeys" readily available in antebellum America? I doubt it. I think that they are late 19th or early 20th century mass-produced items.
#13 Chas Clifton (Link) on 2009-01-24 01:00 (Reply)
Could be. Not what I heard, though. (I read it on the internet so it must be true.)
#13.1 Bird Dog on 2009-01-24 08:44 (Reply)
Here's a link to the subject's wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_jockey
#14 doug l on 2009-01-24 09:32 (Reply)
As I said, must be true if it's on the internet!!!
#14.1 Bird Dog on 2009-01-24 18:22 (Reply)
Growing up we had a wonderful housekeeper from Crisfield, Maryland. We have a lawn jockey. In the 70's one of Mother's friends suggested that it was racist and she should get rid of it. Mother asked Lillian if it offended her. Her reply was that she thought the jockey was adorable and it did not offend her in any way rather she said she really liked the jockey. This is a great read because we were later told it was a tribute to the great black jockeys in America.
#15 Johnny Heirloomseed on 2009-01-24 14:38 (Reply)

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