Ten Broeck recognizes the value of Jarret’s skill with horses and deep rapport with Lexington and, in what could be mistaken for generosity but is actually just canny exploitation, elevates him to the status of deputy trainer, a promotion that gives Jarret responsibility without true authority. Of course, the abhorrent and absurd truth is that both Lexington and Jarret are considered livestock, resources to be exploited until they die. The young man and the horse are sent south, eventually to the massive racing operation of Richard Ten Broeck in Louisiana. Warfield is blackmailed into selling both Lexington and Jarret. Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on May 1,1950, for Annie Allen, making her the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize. It turns out there is a law forbidding Black people from running horses, and so Dr. Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet, author, and teacher.

Once Lexington wins his first race, Harry’s ownership gives covetous White horsemen the necessary leverage to take the animal from him. Elisha Warfield, offers to give the colt Lexington to Harry in lieu of a year’s wages so that Harry, if he makes the horse a success, might earn enough to purchase his son. Jarret is the child of Harry Lewis, a horse trainer who was able to buy his own freedom in antebellum Kentucky.

Facts about gwendolyn brooks