I visited and worked at the Kentucky Derby Museum in 2019. I was enlightened by seeing the 2nd floor exhibit about the true history of the Kentucky Derby and African American jockeys. This exhibit deserves to be at the front and center in the museum and expanded, not placed in a 2nd floor side room. Below is a copy of en edited facebook post I shared as Nancy Heffernan on June 3, 2020. I would like any correspondence regarding this petition to be directed to nancyhaysspeaks@gmail.com 

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY (including the horrible truths that are self evident today in America) NEEDS TO BE A PART OF EARLY EDUCATION AND RE-EXAMINED IN THE CONTEXT OF ALL OF OUR AMERICAN MUSEUMS, CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. During an event I was working on at the Kentucky Derby Museum, I wandered into a small poorly lit second floor side room to take a look at some of the secondary exhibits, I found a corner exhibit about African American and female jockeys. I realized in reading the facts stated on placards, that black jockeys who cared for the horses (and were close to them) had won the Derby for 15 of the first 28 years but were pushed out of the sport and wiped out of the history books. Female jockeys were also discouraged and discriminated against. I thought to myself, "Why isn't this exhibit front and center on the main floor?"A white man named Bill Cooke has been highly praised for creating this small exhibit, and I am grateful that his team did the research and included this exhibit in the museum's offerings but IT'S NOT ENOUGH. We need to hold all educational and cultural institutions and those who make decisions accountable for making changes that will enlighten all of us, including all those who have white privilege. It's not just about laws, it's about changing culture. 

Here are facts: "Black Horsemen of the Kentucky Turf," starts with the earliest years of racing, when enslaved men from Kentucky first started riding thoroughbred racehorses, then quickly surged to the top of the sport. In the first Kentucky Derby run in 1875, thirteen of the fifteen jockeys were black, including the winner, Oliver Lewis on Aristides. Black jockeys won fifteen of the first twenty-eight Derbies. Isaac Murphy and Jimmy Winkfield, both of Lexington won the Derby several times each and became wealthy professional athletes.

But after Plessy v. Ferguson legalized "separate but equal" segregation, black horsemen were essentially pushed out of winners circles and relegated to positions of grooms and hotwalkers.

"If you look at the entire story, you're examining one microcosm of racism in America," Cooke said. "It was tragic."

The exhibit looks at people like Harry Lewis, a black horseman from Scott County who ended up with the racing rights to the famed stallion Lexington. He stands in a portrait by equine artist Edward Troye of a horse named Richard Singleton.

"Troye did us a hell of a favor because he did document some of the black horsemen," Cooke said. "It's the only visual record we have."