Born into slavery in Clark County, Kentucky, in 1861, he moved to Lexington with his mother after the end of the Civil War. In 1874, his mother, perhaps due to ill health or the loss of her savings in a bank crash, apprenticed the teenager to James T. Williams, a horse breeder. He learned to care for and exercise the horses. Eli Jordan, a friend of his mother’s, took a special interest in the boy and taught him the intricacies of pace and horse racing. Since he was small, he was an ideal jockey.  Who is he?

Source: Born into slavery, this man won the Kentucky Derby three times and became the richest American athlete

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