Lexington in Fayette County, Kentucky — The American South (East South Central)
African Americans in the Horse Industry Buried Here
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, March 27, 2021
1. African Americans in the Horse Industry Buried Here Marker
Inscription.
Thoroughbred Trainers (24)
French Brooks 1861-1943 Harry Brown ?-1890 Edward Caldwell 1863-1912 General Carter 1865-1936 Oliver D. Chambers 1842-1909 June Collins 1860-1930 Polk Drake 1852-1889 Moses Dupee 1832-1901 Ben Forrest 1877-1931 John H. Forrest, Jr. 1864-1903 Austin Harris 1874-1902 James Hoskins 1886-1927 Howard Jefferson 1857-1900 Thomas Johnson 1866-1924 John Montgomery 1882-1930 George Morton 1862-1906 Frank Perkins 1871-1900 *Abraham Perry 1842-1908 Henry Roberts 1862-1922 Harry Thompson 1888-1928 Charlie O. Walker 1889-1947 David Wilkerson 1879-1920 Charles Williams 1867-1895 Isaac Williams 1876-1930
*Trainer, 1885 Kentucky Derby winner
Standardbred Trainers (4)
Jackson Brown 1826-1885 Nelson Cleveland 1861-1911 Walker Hughes 1888-1927 John Jacob Perkins 1856-1913
Foremen (2)
Matt Clarke 1856-1917 William Keys 1887-1929
Exercisers (4)
Malcolm Ayers 1865-1941 William Henry Bates 1909-1928 Cecil Green 1910-1932
Robert Lee McCoy 1914-1915
Race Riders/Jockeys (20)
Thomas "Tommie Britton 1870-1901 James Brooks 1888-1904 Clarence Bryant
Click or scan to see this page online
1878-1899 Robert Bryant 1882-1895 James Carter ?-1925 Scott Gill 1878-1895 Robert Isom 1879-1897 James Juison 1874-1897 George'Amos Knox 1860-1906 *Oliver Lewis 1856-1924 Austin Morton 1897-1917 *Isaac Murphy 1861-1896 *James "Soup Perkins 1880-1911 Frank Ross 1895-1903 Joseph Scott 1875-1891 Charles Suter 1884-1900 Cassius Clay Tankersley 1866 -1886 Jacob Trotter 1883-1909 John Warfield 1873-1894 James H. Wilson 1850-1897
* Kentucky Derby winning jockeys
Stable Hands (4)
Dick Coleman 1868-1906 Jim Dandy 1874-1901 J. Runyon 1864-1895 Charlie Witherspoon 1878-1905
Grooms (13)
Smith Bones 1897-1927 Albert Buston 1874-1895 Ansel Cohn 1872-1926 William M.C. Davis 1883-1932 Russell Green 1889-1925 Henry Jones 1879-1928 Octie Keys 1884-1929 Clarence Matthews 1883-1929 Henry Slaughter 1871-1924 George Washington 1879-1922 Aaron M. Webster 1887-1905 Edward Withrow 1877-1931 Braxton Woodard 1867-1932
Horsemen (40)
Louis Butler 1877-1929 Chester Campbell 1887-1924 Harry Carpenter 1853-1923 Henry Chambers 1877-1920 Peter Allen Cohn 1861-1937 James Coleman 1865-1924
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, July 23, 2022
2. African Americans in the Horse Industry Buried Here Marker
Billy Curd 1865-1920 Johnson Deamus 1872-1926 William Dudley 1886-1926 William Embry 1880-1930 Frederick Evans 1864-1918 Ben Fields 1866-1928 Thomas Fisher 1879-1900 Oscar Giles 1911-1930 Horace Graham 1877-1911 Samuel Grant 1902-1935 Clarence Green 1882-1929 Daniel Higgins 1835-1909 Carey Lewis 1875-1908 William Lewis 1891-1935 Lee Madison 1885-1900 Robert Minnis 1883-1922 Eugene Morris 1886-1911 Theodore Palmer 1883-1926 Pete Phillips 1886-1923 William Rivers 1863-1923 George Rogers 1886-1914 William Rollins 1873-1919 George Ross 1909-1939 Harry Seemore 1849-1911 Eddy Scott 1885-1921 Steve Scott 1895-1921 Andrew Smith 1852-1927 James Smith 1856-1916 Walter Smith 1867-1927 William Henry Steele 1869-1935 Alexander Stout 1859-1923 Henry Walker 1875-1910 Sam Weathers 1990-1899 Lewis Wells 1871-1911
Hostlers (47)
Wallace Bibbs 1864-1912 Ned Blackburn 1858-1915 Henry Harrison Brown 1845-1914 Larkin Buckner 1841-1901 Benjamin Byrd 1838-1898 Thomas Campbell 1878-1899 William Carpenter 1878-1934 Abraham Christopher 1835-1895 Franklin Clay 1845-1918 Hiram Coleman 1841-1902 Richard Coulter 1856-1907 James Curd 1874-1896 Charles Green 1855-1895 William Green 1853-1898 Harry Gilbert 1875-1902 Jacob Hall 1857-1897 Parker Harris 1849-1897 William Harris 1870-1903 Daniel Hart 1875-1901 George Holmes 1854-1897 William S. Holman 1863-1898 William Hunley 1818-1880 George Johnson 1872-1915 Henry Johnson 1875-1899 Richard W. Jones 1862-1909 Howard Lee 1857-1915 James Mason 1844-1897 Jake Overton 1868-1903 John W. Palmer 1865-1915 Stephen Porter 1864-1907 Milton Robinson 1848-1899 John Sailles 1873-1906 John Sanders ?-1898 William Seals 1876-1918 Richard Sissle 1831-1901 Henry Smith 1869-1902 Clarence B. Snowden 1875-1903 Frank Stanley 1862-1904 George Stewart 1856-1910 Willis Stout 1858-1907 Clarence String 1885-1917 Elijah Taylor 1852-1906 James Taylor 1847-1903 John Thomas 1845-1895 John Q.A. Thomas 1880-1900 Horatio Tucker 1892-1913 Charley Williams 1874-1907
(Sidebar)
Young Equestrian Scholars
In 2010 the cemetery board created the Y.E.S. (Young Equestrian Scholars) to expand its research effort. University students from several disciplines were awarded stipends through a Community Collaborative Grant from the University of Kentucky.
Marisa Williams, one of the students wrote: "In current times the idea of African
Americans being involved in the equine industry is very farfetched. Many have a difficult time imagining that Blacks were essentially responsible in catapulting the
sport to become the phenomenon it is today. The extraordinary lives of these amazing
athletes are slowly being uncovered and reveal astonishing information". University of Kentucky Young Equestrian Scholar April 2011
The grant supported the placement of archive panels drawing attention to Kentucky Derby
winning jockeys Oliver Lewis, James "Soup" Perkins and Isaac Murphy.
Information panels for winning trainer Abraham Perry and jockey Cassius Clay Tankersley were supported in 2017 by the International Museum of the Horse.
Dr. Anne Butler, board member from 1995 to 2013, began searching for African American
men who were crucial to the development and continuance of racing, a multi-million dollar industry in Kentucky. Prior to her death she had identified eighty-seven names of those employed. Current board members Yvonne Giles and Allan Hetzel continue the search to identify others. As of January 2020, 158 are listed.
Location. 38° 3.084′ N, 84° 28.655′ W. Marker is in Lexington, Kentucky, in Fayette County. It can be reached from East 7th Street. Marker is located in African Cemetery No. 2. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 419 East 7th Street, Lexington KY 40508, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Bluegrass Region. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Upper South. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture and also the Antebellum South.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 12, 2026. It was originally submitted on March 31, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 72,791 times since then and 577 times this year. Photos:1. submitted on March 31, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. 2. submitted on July 29, 2022, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
