CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — A special sign unveiling is scheduled in Charles Town Friday honoring the first Black woman to become a licensed horse trainer.
Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop, who was born in Charles Town in 1920, had a pony as a little girl, according to her daughter, LaVerne Bishop. Her love for horses was sealed when a family visiting from New York took her to the racetrack in town.
“She just loved horses and a family that used to come here from New York would take her to the track as a young child and she just got interested in them,” Bishop said.
LaVerne talked about her mother’s kindness to others, remembering how she would often make a big pot of food and share it with anyone who came by. She also remembered her mother’s dedication to the horses under her care.
“She was 17 when she began working at the track. When she got older she had arthritis and I remember her getting up and going early in the morning to take care of her horses. She looked at them as one of her kids,” Bishop said.
She said her mother faced some hardships being a woman of color in a field dominated by men.
“I remember her stories telling us that when she was at the track ready to saddle horses she would hear nasty things being said to her calling her “B” and the “N” word, all kind of negative talk. She told me she looked at them and smiled, looked up and smiled and kept her head up and kept going. She didn’t let that bother her,” Bishop said.
Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop was in her 30s when the state of West Virginia issued her an official license to train racehorses. Bishop said her mother worked at a Doubleday publishing factory for a time to make ends meet but returned to training when she could. The horses she trained won dozens of races.
Her daughter said Sylvia trained as long as her health allowed her to. She died in 2004.
The Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop Memorial Sign will be unveiled in a ceremony in the 100 block of North Charles Street in downtown Charles Town.
The ceremony, hosted by the city of Charles Town and Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races is set for 4:30 pm and will feature the Wainwright Baptist Choir, “young Sylvia” on her pony, Pastor Richard Rideoutt, Mayor Robert Trainor, and LaVerne Bishop.
The Panhandle News Network’s Luke Wiggs contributed to this story.