Horse

Content Warning: Horse contains depictions of enslavement and racism toward Black people, both historically and in the present, including racially-motivated violence and the use of racial slurs. It also depicts animal neglect and abuse. The chapters about the enslaved character Jarret adhere to the historical custom of placing the enslaver’s last name before the enslaved person’s first name, i.e. “Warfield’s Jarret.”



One afternoon in 2019, Georgetown University art history graduate student Theo Northam is working on an article he is writing for Smithsonian Magazine, his dog Clancy by his side. His attention is drawn to the house across the street, where his elderly neighbor is amassing objects on the curb beside a sign reading “FREE STUFF.” Theo assumes the items belonged to her husband, who passed away. The man had refused to acknowledge Theo when he introduced himself. Theo had tried to be kind and hospitable to the widow after her loss, but received a similar reception. Despite this frostiness, Theo is compelled to help when he sees her beginning to move heavy furniture. She doesn’t thank him, but gestures to the pile, and Theo pauses to look, not wanting to be impolite. The chapter closes with a cliffhanger: “And that was when he saw the horse”(4).