Racing For Freedom: The Unheralded Truth Behind Monmouth County’s Black Equestrian Legacy and the Erasure of Black Leadership
- Karen Brittingham-Edmond
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
15 December 2025
Social Justice Report
Monmouth County - N.J. "Racing for Freedom," a compelling mini-documentary, shines a powerful light on the overlooked contributions and enduring struggles of Black horsemen and professionals at Monmouth Park, the historic racetrack known as the "Jewel of the Jersey Shore." Conceptualized and hosted by journalist Karen Brittingham-Edmond, editor and publisher of Echo News TV LLC, the documentary features candid interviews with Black industry leaders such as Mister Noel, Monmouth Park Senior Bettor Agent and Monmouth Racetrack Public Relations Representative for Black entertainers visiting racetracks in New Jersey. Mister Noel also assisted in introducing then-Senator Barack Obama on stage at Monmouth University with Governor Corzine while advocating for healthcare rights for Monmouth Park workers. Mister Ronnie Taylor, retired jockey and advocate for Black Jockey History, and Mister Gate, Senior Clocker and Bloodstock Agent, are also featured. These firsthand accounts reveal a legacy interwoven with triumph, perseverance, and the harsh realities of Jim Crow racism in New Jersey. ‘Racing for Freedom’ About Little Known Monmouth Horse Racing History - Two River Times (Uptowncharlybrown, Eastwood to Mountain Springs Farm - BloodHorse)
Despite its clear Black American narrative and the historical mission of its partner, the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center—a Black American Cultural Center in Red Bank, NJ, dedicated to preserving and furthering the legacy of civil rights leader T. Thomas Fortune—the documentary’s credit was largely redirected to Sarah Klepner, a White Jewish LGBTQ activist. This editorial decision, made by the Center’s leadership, effectively sidelined Karen Brittingham-Edmond, (whose name was misspelled) the true creative force and interviewer behind the “Monmouth County Freedom Story Series.” Such a move stands in stark contradiction to the Center’s own mission statement:
"To preserve and further the civil rights and social justice legacy of T. Thomas Fortune through community outreach, education, the arts, and public programming... to educate visitors about the true struggles of Black America's social and civil rights history, where only a few voices like Fortune's spoke out against injustices." But here's the problem with said mission statement. There were loads of Black citizens who were actively advocating and helping their fellow Black brothers and sisters unashamedly. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center | “Black press history museum
Historic Legacy of the Rock Family: Abolition, Civil Rights,
and the Echo of Black Excellence in New Jersey
The Rock family’s enduring legacy in abolitionism and civil rights advocacy spans from the late 1700s through the 20th century, highlighted by generations of leaders all bearing the name Peter Rock. This lineage traces its roots to Peter Flemmings’ grandson, the first Peter Rock, and continues through several descendants of the same name, each contributing significantly to the fight for Black freedom and advancement.
One of the most distinguished relatives was John Stewart Rock (October 13, 1825 – December 3, 1866). John S. Rock was an African American teacher, doctor, dentist, lawyer, and abolitionist, historically associated with coining the term “Black is beautiful”—a phrase that originated from a speech he delivered in 1858. Rock was among the first African American men to earn a medical degree and became the first Black person admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
During the late 1700s, the Rock Farm in Pine Brook emerged as the leading distributor of strawberries to England and gained renown as a breeder and trainer of fine thoroughbred horses. The property became a bastion of resistance, hosting a successful uprising of Lenni Lenape people and runaway African slaves. This act of defiance compelled Monmouth County to grant manumission releases from slavery, a direct result of the family’s staunch abolitionist commitment—a legacy rooted in their ancestral grandfather, Mr. Abraham Rock. Mr. Rock’s headstone is the oldest in Pine Brook Cemetery, also known as Shadow Rest Black & Native Cemetery, Ruffin Cemetery, and Pine Brook Cemetery, now located in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, off Squankum Road. About | The Echo Press
The Rock lineage also includes Mr. William Elijah Rock, publisher of New Jersey’s oldest Black-owned newspaper—from 1904 to 1968. He named the historic Black newspaper after his mother, Emma Schneck-Parker-Rock, whose Lenni Lenape name means “Echo.” This newspaper, The Echo, played an essential role in supporting the business ventures of the Fortune family and many other Black businessmen in Monmouth County, New Jersey. These men were historically part of the Negro Press, the Urban League, and were wealthy land developers who provided lifesaving homestead opportunities for Black citizens fleeing the South. Their efforts offered refuge from Confederate racists and non-Black allies whose caste-based ideologies oppressed African Americans. Collection Overview - The George Moss Collection at Monmouth University - LibGuides at Monmouth University
The Echo, New Jersey’s oldest Black-owned newspaper, bore the slogan “In Concern of the Negro since 1904. ” It was later managed by William Elijah Rock’s sons, including Leroy Rock Private First-Class Head Quarters Company 807th Pioneer Infantry Theater Medical Command, World War One —my grandfather and my great-uncle, Arnold Rock. They continued to serve the community with The Echo, which included printing services for local Black churches until Arnold Rock’s sudden death in the 1970s.
The legacy of Peter Rock and his descendants, who proudly identified as Black citizens in North America, demonstrates that the long-term advocacy for Black rights in New Jersey extends beyond the efforts of Mr. T. Thomas Fortune. The Rock family’s significant involvement with movements such as Prince Hall Freemasonry (initiated in 1775), the Underground Railroad, and the Black press, provides clear evidence that Mr. Fortune was not alone in championing Black civil rights. He was, in fact, supported by a distinguished group of Black businessmen—noble gentlemen who faced Jim Crow violence, generational wealth theft, and land dispossession at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan and Confederate sympathizers in New Jersey.
The historic record of the Rock family, from their abolitionist roots to their entrepreneurial and journalistic achievements, stands as a testament to the collective and sustained struggle for Black freedom, dignity, and advancement in New Jersey and beyond. Their story is a vital chapter in the broader narrative of American civil rights, echoing the courage and resilience that have defined the Black experience for centuries.
So, here's the problem...
This misattribution by the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center's leadership is emblematic of a broader, troubling trend: New Jersey’s historic Black institutions—including Black churches, NAACP chapters, Urban League affiliates, and Black Student Unions—are increasingly aligning themselves with non-Black civic groups whose agendas often fail to center Black concerns. These shifts represent a departure from the foundational principle of “In Concern of the Negro”—the rallying cry that once galvanized Black institutions to fight and overcome centuries of discrimination, from the abolitionist struggles of the 1800s through the watershed civil rights victories of the 20th century.
A Legacy of Resilience—Now at Risk
The documentary "Racing for Freedom" participants recount how the horse racing industry served as a rare avenue of empowerment for Black Americans: enabling the formerly enslaved to become landowners, community builders, and even national sports icons. Isaac Murphy, once the richest athlete in the United States, stands as a symbol of this legacy—his achievements made possible only by outmatching the prejudices of his era, and yet even he could not escape the threat of racial violence.
Their stories also document the subtle and overt ways Black professionals were systematically pushed out of their own success—ostracized, demoted, or simply erased from industry history just as their talents began to attract wider recognition. This pattern echoes broader dynamics within Black communities today, where the machinery of recognition is often commandeered by those outside the community, and the voices of Black creators, leaders, and visionaries are silenced or usurped.
The Caste System Within—A Warning from History
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson, in her seminal work Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, analyzes American racism through the lens of caste systems—societal hierarchies rooted in notions of purity, exclusion, and inherited status. Wilkerson’s comparison to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany exposes how such hierarchies persist not only among oppressive majorities, but can also be internalized and perpetuated within marginalized communities themselves. Caste book by Isabel Wilkerson
The current trend in Monmouth County, where Black institutions prioritize external validation and affiliations at the expense of their own community’s interests, mirrors the insidious logic of caste. It provides a sobering reminder that the struggle against external racism is compounded when Black institutions themselves become complicit in the erasure or marginalization of their own. Study Guide: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson Audiobook by SuperSummary
A Call to Action: Reclaiming Black Institutional Power and Voice
To reverse this damaging trend, Black institutions—especially the T. Thomas Fortune House—must reaffirm their foundational commitments:
Restore and Elevate Black Leadership: Acknowledge and credit Black creators, concept originators, and community leaders. Institutional recognition must reflect the true architects of initiatives, not those who benefit from proximity or privilege.
Re-center the “In Concern of the Negro” Principle: Prioritize initiatives and partnerships that are explicitly committed to advancing Black concerns and civil rights, in line with the mission that once drove unprecedented progress.
Guard Against Internalized Caste Thinking: Develop organizational practices that resist the urge to seek approval from or hand over credit to outside groups at the expense of their own.
Educate and Empower: Use platforms like “Racing For Freedom” to tell the unvarnished truth about Black achievement, struggle, and innovation, and ensure those stories are shepherded by Black storytellers and journalists.
Foster Accountability: Create transparent processes for project attribution, leadership selection, and partnership formation, ensuring that Black voices are always at the center of Black institutional work.
Black Americans continue to face discrimination—both from entrenched external systems and, increasingly, from within their own ranks, as institutions drift from their original missions. As Wilkerson warns, the most enduring hierarchies are those that are accepted and replicated by the very people they oppress.
Conclusion
“Racing For Freedom” is more than a documentary—it is a clarion call for Black institutions to remember, reclaim, and reinvigorate the radical legacy of their forebears. The erasure of Karen Brittingham-Edmond’s leadership by the very institutions tasked with protecting Black history is a stark warning. Black citizens who have experienced similar sidelining by their own local leadership must demand accountability and restoration, ensuring that the next generation of Black achievement is recognized, respected, and rightfully led from within.
Echo News TV LLC urges all who care about the future of Black institutions to insist that the T. Thomas Fortune House and similar organizations live up to their founding ideals—not just in rhetoric, but in practice, leadership, and the stories they choose to tell.
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