The Prince of Jockeys

by Pellom McDaniels III

  To be sure, America would have been at the mercy of the men on the farm. They may have attempted to coerce her into a sexual relationship or even assault her as a demonstration of their power over her. Prior to 1850, David Tanner may have placed more than a few “rebellious slaves” in the hands of the local jailer, to be auctioned off and “sent down river.”21 Whatever happened in America's life, the available evidence suggests that she learned to negotiate the complex nature of slavery and the ongoing struggle to be free from bondage and abuse. On the Tanner farm, she would have adapted to the family's daily patterns and their comings and goings; she would have listened to their discussions about finances, the politics of the day, the efforts of Kentucky politicians to send free blacks to West Africa, abolitionism, and the pending war between the North and the South.

  In 1861, after the birth of baby Isaac, America Murphy's personal life and responsibilities changed, but her role on the farm remained the same. She may have been granted some time to recover from childbirth, but she was probably required to return to her chores within a week's time. Being that Isaac was the only child on the farm and America was unable to care for him because of her duties, she would have left her newborn in the care of an older slave woman also owned by Tanner. Isaac would have spent his earliest years under the watchful eye of this maternal figure who was charged with watching over, feeding, and otherwise tending to the needs of small children while their mothers worked in the fields, the house, or the yard.22 Once he was old enough, Isaac would be sent to the fields to weed, hoe, and harvest or to perform other tasks on the farm. Subsequently, America would be charged with grooming her son for the rite of passage that marked his transition from boyhood to manhood—albeit more in theory than in practice. Like other slave mothers, America did not want to see her child taken from her without warning and sold without remorse. Nor did she want to see her son whipped as a means of breaking him in. America wanted more for Isaac—more than she had access to—and the pending war between the Federal government and the rebellious slave states gave her hope.

  What cannot be overlooked are the enslaved women who chose not to allow their children to live in a world where only heartbreak awaited them. As appalling as it may sound, some women were willing to take the lives of their own children to save them from the horrors of slavery. Cases of infanticide were not common among enslaved women, but there are recorded instances of desperate mothers murdering their children to save them from the hellish existence they themselves had experienced.23 One such woman was Margaret Garner, who, after a failed attempt to escape to freedom across the Ohio River, took the life of her infant daughter in 1856. An enslaved mother's love was unmatched, but how did she prepare her daughter or son to be raped? At what point did she say it will be all right, just be strong? What kinds of torment haunted the souls of these women? Garner wanted her daughter to be free from the evil she had known; she did not want her daughter to be someone's property, of no greater value than a hog or a horse. She, like most women in her situation, did not know whether or when she would be sold away from her family, whether her newborn would become collateral for a new carriage for her mistress, or whether her child would become the next victim of the slave trader's purpose. Out of love, some enslaved African American mothers took extreme measures to keep their children from abuse, even if it meant destroying the lives they had brought into the world.

  By the time Isaac Murphy was born, the world was undergoing great changes, and the promise of freedom for people of African descent became a whisper on the lips of bondsmen. However, they knew enough not to loosen their tongues too quickly, because the fire of rebellion was not yet hot enough. Amid the radical changes taking place across the nation, especially in the Bluegrass, America Murphy prepared to raise her son in a world that did not recognize his humanity.

  Jerry Skillman

  With the election of Abraham Lincoln, the so-called black Republican, Americans were preparing for conflict over the institution of slavery. Disagreement over the expansion of slavery and its efficacy as an institution, not the issue of whether slavery was right or wrong, was what threatened to destroy the nation. Nonetheless, the escalating tensions became a beacon of hope to the country's most ardent freedom-seeking inhabitants: enslaved African Americans. Although Kentucky was a slave state and strategically located as a buffer between the North and the South, its loyalties would eventually remain with the Union. The impending war between the Federal government and the Confederate States of America, which refused to yield ground on states’ rights and the notion of popular sovereignty, would be a critical event in the lives of America Murphy, her newborn son, and the boy's father, Jerry Skillman.

  Born sometime between 1825 and 1840, in a place unknown, Jerry Skillman was likely an enslaved field hand on John Whitney Skillman's farm in Bourbon County, near the town of Levy. Obviously, Skillman's external life was dictated by his position as a slave; as for his dreams and aspirations, we have no way of knowing, since he left no record of his thoughts or ideas. However, we can speculate that he was a man who made choices, many of which were life-and-death decisions. Up until the Civil War, his name does not appear in any public records, so he was not a runaway slave and had not violated any law. Surely, some would identify this as weakness on his part. Why didn't he try to run away? Why didn't he follow in the footsteps of Nat Turner and lead a rebellion against the white men and women who pursued lives of comfort and ease on the backs of blacks? What advantages did he gain by not pursuing freedom in the North?

  Historically, we know that enslaved African American men, women, and children were forced to negotiate numerous situations on a daily basis that made it nearly impossible to emancipate themselves from their masters. Physically escaping from the farm may have been the easiest part of running away from slavery. More difficult were the questions that followed: Where to go, and how to get there? How to get resources to survive the trip to the promised land? Who could be trusted? What would life be like after arriving in the North? And what would happen to those left behind? No doubt, the decision to run was complex and linked to factors that cannot be known by the average surveyor of antebellum American history. What is more, we cannot overestimate the power of the human spirit to persevere under the most horrific conditions for the sake of love and family.

  As the personal property of J. W. Skillman, Jerry, his brother Charles, and several other enslaved males cultivated the fields, harvested the crops, and processed raw products for the marketplace, including hemp, which Kentuckians of the time called the “nigger crop.”24 The son of a Virginia planter, J. W. Skillman's wealth was based on the real estate he owned, valued at $8,000 in 1850, and his personal property, including nine slaves, worth no less than $10,000.25 A decade later, the value of his farm property had increased 250 percent to $22,000, and his personal property, which included thirteen slaves, was worth more than $20,000. Of the human chattel owned by Skillman, two of the males were around Jerry's age, thirty to thirty-five. It is possible that several of the thirteen were family members, including Jerry's mother, a number of siblings, and other relatives. Others were likely not blood related, having been purchased at various times as investments. This was not uncommon: Kentucky farmers bought, leased, and traded slaves for different types of work, depending on the season and their needs, such as clearing additional lands or constructing more modern buildings for livestock and storage.

  Skillman's financial records show that he took full advantage of the region's most valuable commodity—hemp—to increase his personal wealth, amassing the labor force necessary to generate market surpluses and ensure his success as a farmer. Labor could be acquired, as needed, through leasing agreements between owners or purchases made at the slave market at Cheapside or at the local jail, where slaves held in debt could be bought for a nominal fee. In Kentucky, the system of hiring out workers allowed urban dwellers to take advantage of the demand for labor by purchasing slaves at the slave market and then leasing them to
farmers during the harvest and to manufacturing firms in Lexington engaged in the production of rope, bagging, clothes, and other products for export to the South. Although those held in bondage on the Skillman farm likely came to depend on one another and formed some type of familial unit out of necessity and convenience, this cannot be considered a more benign form of slavery. It is possible that Skillman was a breeder, selling children to slave traders who transported them to the South. Regardless of the form it took, the institution of slavery was a tool of oppression with only one desired outcome: to get the most out of human chattel to increase the wealth and social standing of their owners.

  By 1860, Jerry was certainly aware of his responsibilities as a member of a large labor force. His ability to be productive increased his value on the Skillman farm, and potentially his own sense of pride. Working alongside as well as under the gaze of whites, African Americans like Jerry gained an intimate knowledge of whites’ habits of domination. Jerry and his extended family would have shared information about the white Skillman family, their innermost secrets and their movements, to better navigate their already uncertain existence. Like America Murphy, Jerry would have observed the “frantic terror” and the “agony” that swept over the farm when the disobedient were punished or when the Southern “nigger traders” came to eye new purchases for their coffles.26

  Even in the more genteel setting of Kentucky, where slavery was thought to be less abusive, African Americans witnessed the daily brutality of the institution. In this antebellum setting, Jerry Skillman learned how to negotiate his world, achieving a sense of identity as a man despite his circumstances. For Jerry, this would be a temporary state of existence, and the Civil War would be his opportunity to proclaim what he understood all along: that he was a man of bone, liquid, and muscle, just like the white men who claimed dominion over him and his people.

  America Murphy and Jerry Skillman may have met during the local county court days, held at the county seats of Paris and Winchester, or at the Cheapside market in Lexington, where farmers came to sell and trade their produce, livestock, and slaves. When they were not serving their owners’ needs or otherwise fulfilling their duties, enslaved African Americans were allowed to talk to one another and catch up on the news: who had been sold to whom, and where; who had had a baby; and how runaways relocated in the North were faring. All would have overheard murmurs about the coming war and where white Kentuckians stood with regard to secession by the South. At these mass gatherings, there also would have been discussions about Kentucky-born Republican presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln and his position on the slavery debate.

  While moving through the crowd and visiting with friends and relatives, Jerry may have talked in hushed tones with trusted members of the black community about the abolitionist movement or listened as other bondmen discussed the Underground Railroad that ran right through Lexington. They would have reminded one another of the numerous costs of being caught and the rewards of actually achieving freedom. Some of these discussions may have circled around family news: where kin had been sent to work, where they had been sold, or where they were buried. This was one way to maintain and mend family ties in slave communities, especially when distance, deceit, and death were constantly tearing at what bound African Americans together beyond the institution of slavery.

  Even with the Civil War looming, Jerry was not dissuaded from pursuing America as his companion. They were both in their thirties, and Jerry would have been attracted to America's strong sense of purpose and resilience, as well as her beauty. The dark mulatto-looking woman had been born and reared in Lexington, within the progressive community of free and enslaved blacks, and her strength would have resonated through small acts of resistance. Jerry, whose muscular body had been conditioned by his occupation as a field hand, was just the type of man America would have wanted in her life. Chances are that something in his manner made him attractive, or perhaps he spoke of freedom in terms that satisfied America's requirements for a potential husband and the father of her children. Who can know for sure? America may have been impressed by Jerry's assured disposition and his work ethic, which guaranteed him certain privileges and opportunities. There was value in being a productive slave on a farm where productivity was essential to the maintenance of stability. Both America and Jerry understood the real and imagined costs of their position as slaves, but they also knew how to use the system to their advantage.

  One aspect of the culture of slavery in central Kentucky was the pass system, which permitted certain slaves (usually male) to travel to adjoining counties on business for their owners, visiting family or courting potential partners along the way. Passes also allowed husbands the opportunity to see their wives and children who were living elsewhere. These long-distance, or “abroad,” marriages were promoted by slave owners because any children produced could be sold for a profit. Another benefit of such a system was that, by encouraging their female slaves to become involved with black males from other farms in nearby counties, slave owners were expanding the gene pool of their human chattel. Based on this arrangement, Jerry would have been able to visit and court America at the Tanner farm in Clark County. In slaveholding states like Kentucky, especially in communities near urban centers like Lexington, it was common practice for enslaved and free men of color to seek their potential spouses from neighboring farms and plantations.27

  Still, the institution of slavery dictated that an African American man obtain the consent of his owner, as well as the owner of his prospective wife, before the union could take place. Slave marriages were honored as long as they did not interfere with the spouses’ usefulness on their respective farms. Unfortunately, the nature of slavery rarely allowed an extensive courtship period, and slaves sought happiness whenever and wherever it was available. Over the course of weeks or months, America and Jerry would have visited each other before deciding to seek the permission of their respective owners to marry. Unfortunately, there is no record of an official marriage and no narrative of their lives together.28 Under Kentucky law at the time, it would have been illegal for anyone designated as chattel to be married within the Christian tradition to either another slave or a free person of color.29 However, based on social customs, they could have “jumped a broom” in the presence of community members to solidify their commitment as husband and wife.30 This was a common tradition, and most African Americans adhered to it, including Jerry Skillman and his previous wife, Caroline, who had borne him a son, William, three years earlier in an adjoining county.

  To consummate their marriage in the eyes of God, Jerry and America would have been allowed to spend time together after the wedding. And depending on the generosity of their masters, they might have been permitted as many as two or three visitations a month. Because their union was an abroad marriage, it is unclear whether Jerry was present at the birth of his son, Isaac. Unless Jerry had been granted a pass from his master to visit the Tanner farm in Clark County, he would have been on the Skillman farm when his son struggled his way into the world. Jerry would have heard the news of his son's birth through the network of individuals traveling the country roads on errands for their owners, conveying bits of information to be passed on to the right people. These networks were important to the survival of both enslaved and free African American communities in mid-nineteenth-century Kentucky, especially in the Bluegrass region, where slavery was a constant source of debate by abolitionists and slavery advocates alike.

  Isaac Murphy's Childhood

  By the time Isaac Murphy turned two, he was likely still nursing from his mother's breasts, learning how to communicate his particular needs, and running barefoot on the hard dirt yard of the Tanner farm. Still vulnerable to sickness and disease, the toddler was lucky to have survived past his first birthday. For children born between 1830 and 1860, the mortality rate for enslaved blacks was more than double that for whites. Indeed, death before age five was a common occurrence in slave families. Along with the usual disea
ses of the day such as pneumonia, influenza, cholera, and diphtheria, enslaved black children died from a lack of proper care and appropriate shelter. What is more, poor nutrition compromised these children's immune systems, stunted their growth, and contributed to other developmental problems.31 Based on this reality, young Isaac Murphy may have struggled both physically and mentally. He was a child born of circumstances beyond his control.

  Still, America was a good mother and did her best to ensure that her child survived. To Kentucky slaveholders, slave children were of greater value once they were able to work in the fields, stables, and kitchens or could be hired out to local farmers and manufacturers. But until they became contributing members of the workforce, black children were vulnerable to abuse from overzealous slaveholders who systematically weeded out the weakest through direct and indirect forms of neglect.

  Slave children between the ages of five and ten were often employed in the main household as playmates for their master's children. One of the realities of the culture of slavery in central Kentucky was that these children of different racial, social, cultural, and political status were often half siblings from different mothers: their father's white wife and his black slave women. Beyond the simple pleasures of playing and exploring the world around them, these children were learning how the world functioned and their future roles in it. Often, those slave children assigned as playmates to their young masters would spend their entire lives as their body servants and closest confidants.32