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The Mary Fields Museum & Conference Center will include exhibits and displays on Black Kentucky Derby jockeys, Buffalo Soldiers, Civil War cavalrymen and more.
A new museum under construction in Keney Park in Hartford, Connecticut, is set to celebrate and honor America’s notable Black equestrians.
The Mary Fields Museum & Conference Center is coming to the Ebony Horsewomen Inc. Equestrian and Therapeutic Center, the Hartford Courant reports. Grants from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development are making the project possible.
“Our beautiful new building is up,” a message on the Ebony Horsewomen Inc. website states, “and now we are working on building out the interior space to house The Mary Fields Museum as well as a space for gathering, education and entertainment.”
Ebony Horsewomen instituted summer and weekend riding programs in 1984 to introduce inner-city children to horses and equestrianism. It has grown to offer culturally relevant equine-assisted psychotherapy, according to the Hartford Courant.
“One thing we work on is the therapeutic mental and emotional well-being of the youth we serve,” said Patricia E. Kelly, president and CEO of Ebony Horsewomen. “Part of that has to be what their history is.”
The Courant said the Mary Fields Museum will include exhibits and displays on Kentucky Derby jockeys, Buffalo Soldiers, Black Civil War cavalrymen and Fields, the first Black woman to get a contract to deliver U.S. Postal Service mail. Born into slavery, Fields drove a stagecoach in Montana from 1895 to 1903.
The museum will also feature an exhibit on Bass Reeves, also born into slavery, who later served as a lawman in the Old West after the Civil War. Many historians believe he is the inspiration for “The Lone Ranger.”
African-American jockey Oliver Lewis will also be a highlight. He rode Aristides to victory in the first Kentucky Derby on May 17, 1875. During the next 27 years, Black jockeys rode 14 of the winning horses in the Kentucky Derby.
“The history of Black equestrians is either diminished, deleted or hidden,” Kelly said of the skilled Black American horsemen and horsewomen of yesteryear. “This is an attempt to bring it forward and recognize many accomplishments.”
The museum will boast artifacts, biographies, photographs and video mapping, offering guests an immersive experience similar to the Beyond Van Gogh event that is touring worldwide.
“Black men herded cattle, but they were not called cattlemen, cowpokes, cowhands or even men. They were called boys,” said Kelly. “Then Hollywood came in and picked up the cowboy saga and kicked Black men out altogether.”
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