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Samuel "Mingo Jack" Johnson (1820 – March 5, 1886) was an
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
man falsely accused of rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
. He was brutally beaten and hanged by a mob of white men in Eatontown, New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
.
Biography
Johnson was born in Colts Neck in 1820 and was raised as a slave by the Laird family. Because he was short, the family used him as a jockey, and he rode a colt named Chief Mingo to victory, earning him the nickname Mingo Jack. In 1840, New Jersey abolished slavery, and Johnson worked odd jobs in the Eatontown and Middletown areas, living in Eatontown near what is now Route 35 and Poplar Road.Lynching
In March 1886, a white woman, Angelina Herbert, was raped and beaten. She could not identify her attacker, but reported that the attacker had asked her, "Do you know Mingo Jack"? Johnson was arrested. That night, a mob of up to 75 people chiseled holes in the wall of the jail in which Mingo Jack was held and fired guns, attempting to kill Johnson. When that effort failed, they stormed the jail, beat Johnson and hanged him. A sham trial for some members of the lynch mob was held, featuring drunken witnesses and a jury that included the prominent townsman Thomas White, resulting in acquittals for all the defendants. Information from the trial, including testimony from Mrs. Herbert, revealed that Johnson couldn't have been the rapist. No one was convicted for the murder of Mingo Jack, who left behind a wife and five children. Another black man, George Kearney, later confessed to the rape, although that confession may have been coerced. In 2012, Mayor Gerald Tarantolo issued a public apology for the failure of security at the jail, calling the lynching "a low point in the history of Eatontown". A small memorial was placed in Wampum Park.
See also
* False accusations of rape as justification for lynchingsReferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mingo Jack 1820 births 1886 deaths 1886 murders in the United States African-American history of New Jersey Lynching deaths in New Jersey People from Colts Neck Township, New Jersey People from Eatontown, New Jersey Racially motivated violence against African Americans 19th-century American slaves African-American jockeys