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My project entitled "The Prince of Jockeys: The Life and Career of Isaac Murphy" examines the significance of one of the nineteenth century's least celebrated athletes. The central aim of my project will be concerned with the genesis, maintenance and execution of Murphy's particular style of masculinity within a confluence of factors, the majority of which were beyond his control. As an athlete and a man of means, Murphy exceeded the expectations white men had of African American men during the late nineteenth century, and became an acceptable symbol of manhood that black spectators came to depend upon. Through his performances on the race track and his adherence to the ideology of respectability, Murphy contested traditional notions of blackness while advancing new meanings to associate with black manhood.