Pellom McDaniels, author of The Prince of Jockeys: The Life of Isaac Burns Murphy, says it’s time for Lexington to rescue the famed African-American jockey from the footnotes of history.
McDaniels says the snippet that launched him on the journey that would result in the first definitive biography of Isaac Murphy was a description of the jockey that seemed out of place in the 1800s.
"It was how he was represented as this 'elegant specimen of manhood,'" McDaniels explains. "And for me, that was kind of odd considering that other athletes were being run from sports like baseball and boxing, especially during this time period where blacks were being caricaturing by Currier and Ives and different advertisements that really attempted to diminish their humanity."
Piecing together fragments of his portrait from newspaper articles, census data, and legal documents, McDaniels says he’s certain more is out there – and he hopes to one day find his holy grail, an Isaac Murphy journal.
"You know, I think I might cry," he says, laughing.
The author says he and others are making progress in shining a light on Murphy’s remarkable career. He cites Lexington’s Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden and a script he’s working on for a filmed version of the jockey’s life.
