The Maryland Horse Library and Education Center kicked off Black History Month on Saturday, Feb. 1, by hosting Keeneland Library’s traveling exhibit The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers.

Along with the exhibit’s arrival, exhibit curator and Keeneland Library director Roda Ferraro gave a talk providing context and highlighting the lives and careers of Black horsemen and horsewomen from the mid-1800s to the present.

From racetrack superstars to behind-the-scenes caretakers, Ferraro gave just a tiny glimpse into the vast history of this topic with stories of just a few of the countless African Americans who forged their way in horse racing in Kentucky and beyond.

Ferraro also dived into the history of Lexington’s East End, home to the Kentucky Association track from the late 1820s through 1933, the nucleus of a thriving Black community. By the late 1800s, four future Racing Hall of Famers lived in Lexington’s East End: jockeys Isaac Burns Murphy and Jimmy Winkfield, trainer Ansel Williamson, and trainer/owner Edward Dudley Brown. Hundreds of others bought homes, built businesses, and raised their families in surrounding neighborhoods.

The event’s opening also featured a book signing by Alvin Stone, author of Stoney: The Story of my Dad’s Life, an African American Groom of Horse Racing. A Baltimore resident, Stone tells a personal story of his family’s connection to horses.

The exhibit, a total of nine interpretive panels that include particulars on a number of those discussed by Ferraro, will be on display at MHLEC, 321 Main Street in Historic Reisterstown through the end of February. Additional events and displays will also be featured throughout the month.