Reincarnation of Jocko Graves

When I first conceived the idea to paint a ‘lawn jockey’, I had the idea of him flipping off the world in some obscene gesture. But like any subject matter, I like to study the subject before I lay down the paint. The lawn jockey has long been viewed as a derogatory image of black people (men). To my surprise the creation and use of the lawn jockey was far from that.

General George Washington (our first president) had a statue created in the image of his young groomsman. His groomsman, a 12 year old boy named Jocque Graves, was believed to be a son of a freedman who fought beside Washington and his men. Jocque sought to fight the Redcoats, but Washington deemed him too young and ordered him to look after the horses, asking Jocque to keep a lantern blazing along the Delaware so the company would know where to return after battle. Many hours later, Washington and his men returned to their horses that were tied up to Graves. He had frozen to death with the lantern still clenched in his fist. Washington was so moved by the young boy's devotion to the revolutionary cause he commissioned a statue of the "Faithful Groomsman" to stand in Graves's honor at the general's estate in Mount Vernon.

By the time of the Civil War, these "Jocque" statues could be found on plantations throughout the South: like the North Star that pointed fleeing slaves to their freedom, the Jocque statues pointed to the safe houses of the Underground Railroad. Along the Mississippi River, a green ribbon tied to a statue's arm — whether in secret or with the owner's knowledge indicated safety; a red ribbon meant danger.

In 1875, the first 13 winners of the Kentucky Derby were black. This may explain the reason why most cast-iron statues we are familiar today has the jockey silks uniform rather than the slave type uniform Jocque Graves would have worn.

My Interpretation of JOCKO

I took the artist’s right of creative license to combine a celebratory painting of both Jocque Graves and the historical contributions of the earlier jockeys who raced the Kentucky Derby. Therefore, Jocko is dressed a riding jockey silk type uniform.

Jocko is holding a lantern as the groomsman would have had and is pointing toward the open end of the painting. This signifies the light has been lit to guide us to a brighter future.

He is holding a red ribbon behind him to remind black folk to move forward with caution. There are a number of obstacles, still, before us to slow our momentum.

The background is green to suggest a lawn. There are the hard corners/walls to resemble a box and the presence of a shadow box, to signify thinking outside the box.

We cannot afford to live in the shadow of oppression. Hence, the undeniable shadow is strongly visible against the wall.

The crack in his base is a sign of the ground breaking contributions that African Americans have made in the foundation of American history and will continue make in world history

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