“Sketches for the Washington Races” (ca. 1840)

“Sketches for the Washington Races” (ca. 1840)

AP African American Studies Guide

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Topic 4.19

C. N. Newdegate, a Print from Sketches for the Washington Races in October 1840 (ca. 1840)

A color print of a horse race showing three horses with Black jockeys. In the lead is a white horse jockeyed by a rider in red with a black hat; in second is a brown horse jockeyed by a rider in a powder blue outfit and hat, raising a whip or crop; and in third is a brown horse jockeyed by a rider in a red-pinstriped, white outfit and hat.


Source: A print by Charles Newdigate Newdegate, a British observer of an American horse race, from Sketches for the Washington Races in October 1840, printed in London, ca. 1840. (Library Company of Philadelphia)

This print, part of a series of three, depicts the start of a race at Washington Race Course in Charleston, South Carolina, featuring enslaved men as jockeys. View all three panels on the Library Company of Philadelphia website.