What will Kentucky Book Festival visitors find on your table?
The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers, the first comprehensive chronicle of its kind, highlights the lives andcareers of 125 African American horsemen and women from enslavement to today. From racetrack superstars to behind-the-scenes caretakers, The Heart of the Turf showcases select stories of the countless African Americans who forgedtheir way in Kentucky and beyond, making the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry what it is today.
Whom do you invite to stop by? Who will benefit from reading your book?
I invite learners of all ages to stop by. This work was crafted for young adult and adult readers to highlight untold storiesand never-before-published past and present photographs of a fiercely local and important history.
Lexington’s East End, home to the Kentucky Association racetrack from the late 1820s through 1933, also was home tomany Black horsemen and their families after the Civil War. By the late 1800s, four future National Racing Hall of Famerslived in Lexington’s East End: jockeys Isaac Burns Murphy and Jimmy Winkfield and horsemen Ansel Williamson andEdward Dudley Brown. Hundreds of others bought their homes, built their businesses, and raised their families insurrounding neighborhoods.That many of the city’s leading horsemen were African American and living near the Kentucky Association track shapedthe East End’s heritage as a historic industry hub for pioneering Black horsemen. The economy of the Bluegrass andviability of the Thoroughbred industry are rooted in their skill, knowledge, and tenacity.
Could you please tell us something curious about you and/or your book?
The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers is a companion publication to Keeneland Library’s education initiative andtraveling exhibit launched in 2023 that has freely reached 70,000 youth and adults in its first year touring the Bluegrass.
Is this your first time participating in Kentucky Book Festival? If yes – what are you looking forward to the most?If you’ve participated before – what was your favorite experience at the Festival?
Though I have attended the Kentucky Book Festival for many years as a hungry reader and to support authors for whom Iconducted research for their varied publications as Head Librarian and Director of Keenland Library, this is my first timeparticipating as an author. I can’t wait to engage with Festival attendees, and I am grateful for the platform to engage withFestival guests and to home this accessible compilation onto bookshelves of Kentucky readers.
