Working Paper: NBER ID: w28167
Authors: Michael Leeds; Hugh Rockoff
Abstract: Between the Civil War and the turn of the nineteenth century there were many prominent African American jockeys. They rode winners in all of the Triple-Crown races. But at the turn of the century they were forced out. This paper uses a new data set on the Triple-Crown races, which includes odds on all of the entrants in all of the races, to explore the causes of the expulsion of African American jockeys. Our conclusion is that although there is some evidence of prejudice by owners and the betting public – for the latter in the Kentucky Derby although not in the other legs of the Triple Crown – historical evidence indicates that the final push came from the White jockeys who were determined to “draw the color line.”
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: N11; N3
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Rise of Jim Crow laws (J15) | Decline in number of mounts for Black jockeys (J15) |
| Actions of white jockeys (Y50) | Expulsion of African American jockeys (J79) |
| Prejudice from owners and bettors (L83) | Decline in number of mounts for Black jockeys (J15) |
| Betting patterns reflecting racial discrimination (J15) | Discrimination against African American jockeys (J79) |