lawn jockey
Garden jockey figure
A lawn jockey is a small statue, typically about three feet tall, depicting a figure holding a ring or lantern, traditionally placed in front yards to hitch horses or as decoration.
The figure is usually dressed as a jockey or stable hand.
Many older versions depicted Black figures in exaggerated, caricatured features, making them symbols of racist stereotyping.
The antique shop still had lawn jockeys in the back room.
Some homeowners have painted over the figures or replaced them with race-neutral versions.
Small ornamental sculpture
- cast-ironHard molded alloy
- concreteSolid building mixture
- doorstopKeeps entryways ajar
- decorativeServing to beautify
silhouette · livery · footman · antique · collectible · vintage · Americana · folk-art
Racist performance makeup tradition
- minstrelsyArt of traveling performers
- stereotypeFixed oversimplified notion
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- dehumanizationDenying personhood to others
antebellum · plantation · slavery · offensive · insensitivity · discrimination · bigotry · prejudice
Before a war's start
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- slaveryOwnership of people
- servantOne employed to serve
- footmanUniformed domestic male attendant
stable-boy · groomsman · livery · Victorian · nineteenth-century · Southern · estate · manor
figurine
Small ornamental sculpture
decorative · silhouette · livery · footman · antique · collectible · vintage · Americana · folk-art · kitsch
blackface
Racist performance makeup tradition
- minstrelsyArt of traveling performers
- stereotypeFixed oversimplified notion
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
dehumanization · antebellum · plantation · slavery · offensive · insensitivity · discrimination · bigotry · prejudice · colonialism
antebellum
Before a war's start
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- slaveryOwnership of people
- servantOne employed to serve
footman · stable-boy · groomsman · livery · Victorian · nineteenth-century · Southern · estate · manor · carriage
- yard decorwreath, garden gnome, garden ornament, bird bath, birdbath
- figuresfigure of speech, figure, trope, simile, metaphor
lawn jockeygarden gnome
Decorative yard figurine
abstract sculpture · gazing ball · birdbath · garden Buddha · Virgin Mary statue