We moved in 3 years ago and have had this lawn jockey in our yard. It's incredibly heavy (can't lift it) and is incredibly racist - it's embarrassing having to explain it's not ours when people come over. Anyway, so far someone has date it to the 1880s, and another to the 1930s. Hoping to pinpoint a decade and asking price. Thanks!
Iβve seen a few delivering packages, and I was shocked because I always thought it was racist, or symbolized racism. There is a lot of controversy over on the Internet is that it is racist, or it isnβt racist and actually symbolizes the Underground Railroad.
After researching, I have yet to come to a clear conclusion. Some sources say they were used to alert neighbors that slaves have escaped, yet some actually say the complete opposite and that they were actually to aid escaped slaves in the north.
I think everybody has seen the terrible black-face lawn ornaments, where they're painted charcoal black. Its unfortunate that they still exist. But, there's an elder woman in my neighborhood who absolutely adores buying and repainting gnomes and other lawn statues of people. This includes the black-face statues. The thing is, she repaints them with natural skin tones and colors instead of doing charcoal-black, so they look like actual people instead. She only buys from antique and second-hand shops. Are they still racist when they've been repainted to look like real people?
"That's no lawn jockey. That's a general."
Is it racist or some sort of folk art? It's BOTH! The body appears to be made out of an old muffler, but what really struck me was the black face and the big lips and white eyes. Really?
Am I over-reacting? I'm sure whoever put this on display in front of their garage would say so.
I haven't seen a lawn jockey in front of a residential home since about 1985 and that was in the South and back then I considered it a throwback and somewhat comical. Now I consider such things blatantly racist.
We found a seemingly very old (and very heavy) lawn jockey in the garage of a new property. I couldn't find any markings indicating the date, manufacturer, region, etc. I know it is very heavy and a little worse for wear.
Can anyone shed some light on this piece?
http://postimg.org/image/snppfekub/
https://preview.redd.it/wnlue1bfly281.png?width=1034&format=png&auto=webp&s=c8f8662039124d86f17f00cb06336f97595e980e
We moved in 3 years ago and have had this lawn jockey in our backyard (USA). It's incredibly heavy (can't lift it) and is incredibly racist - it's embarrassing having to explain it's not ours when people come over. Anyway, so far someone has date it to the 1880s, and another to the 1930s. Hoping to pinpoint a decade and asking price for whoever is in the market for racist statues.
