Lawn ornaments have always been a popular expression of culture, whether they be plastic pink flamingos, ceramic gnomes, or stone frogs and lizards. One very popular lawn ornament has a particularly checkered past, however: the black footman or jockey.
Sandra Dee McNair, who owns such a lawn ornament, says she often gets an earful about how “racist” it is. So she took to Facebook to explain:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207511681084081&set=a.2079978512984.2115178.1050667797&type=3
The image of a black ‘footman’ with a lantern signified the home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The clothing of the statue was also coded. A striped jockey’s shirt meant that this was a place to swap horses, while a footman in a tailed coat meant overnight lodgings/food, and a blue sailor’s waistcoat meant the homeowner could take you to a port and get you on a ship to Canada.
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I had never heard of this, and was skeptical at first; but the story is confirmed in the comments and in this article on the history: http://www.lawnjock.com/lawn_jockey_history.html
Thanks, Woodcutter, and welcome! Nice info to know. I’ve always liked things that signify part of our culture. It’s too bad that today everybody has to jump to the wrong conclusions.
Pray for righteousness to be restored and for the peace of Jerusalem
Wow. I did not know this. Great article and thanks for posting. This is the kind of thing I used to love about FR and missed, learning something new and interesting.
No reason we cannot have the same thing here. And we will!
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