Lawn jockey

The lawn ornament, popular in certain parts of the United States and Canada in years past,[1] was a cast replica, usually about half-scale or smaller, generally of a man dressed in jockey's clothing and holding up one hand as though taking the reins of a horse.

The "cavalier spirit" design usually depicts the left arm raised and uses the likeness of a white young man, lacking the minstrelsy features of its Jocko counterpart.

[4] The story says that the boy, named Jocko Graves, was left behind as Washington considered it too dangerous for him to cross the Delaware River with the men.

[5] Another story, popularized by American historian Charles L. Blockson, posits that the figures were used on the Underground Railroad to guide escaping slaves to freedom.

[8][9] The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia writes that "there is very little, if any, primary source material for the claim that lawn jockeys were used as signaling devices for escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad.

Lawn jockeys are often associated with wealthy white American families in popular culture, either for satire and sociopolitical symbolism, or for legitimate aesthetic appeal.