John Hartfield was an African-American man who was

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of in ...

Ellisville, Mississippi Ellisville is a town in and the first county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 4,448 at the time of the 2010 census, up from 3,465 at the 2000 census. The Jones County Courthouse is located here, as is much of ...

on June 26, 1919, for allegedly having a white girlfriend.

History

John Hartfield left his home in Ellisville seeking a better life in East St. Louis. In 1919, he traveled back to Ellisville to visit his white girlfriend, Ruth Meeks, taking a job as a hotel porter in

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

. When the relationship became known to some white men, they determined to kill Hartfield. They accused Hartfield of raping Meeks, who they claimed was 18, although she was actually in her mid-twenties. Hartfield managed to elude them for a while, but they pursued him for several weeks. Sheriff Allen Boutwell in Laurel raised donations to fund a hunting party with bloodhounds at the request of Sheriff Harbison. He was finally apprehended attempting to board a train on June 24, and was turned over to Sheriff Harbison, who placed him in the charge of a deputy and left town. The deputy immediately released him to a mob. The ''

Jackson Daily News ''The Clarion Ledger'' is an American daily newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the second-oldest company in the state of Mississippi, and is one of the few newspapers in the nation that continues to circulate statewide. It is an operating ...

'', the ''

New Orleans States The ''New Orleans Item-Tribune'', sometimes rendered in press accounts as the ''New Orleans Item and Tribune'', was an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, in various forms from 1871 to 1958. Early history The newspaper, r ...

'', and other newspapers ran headlines that "John Hartfield will be lynched by Ellisville mob at 5:00 this afternoon" and additional text that "The officers have agreed to turn him over to the people of the city at 5 o'clock this afternoon when it is expected he will be burned". Hartfield had been wounded, so a white doctor, A. J. Carter, treated his wounds to keep him alive long enough to be murdered. At 5:00 PM on June 26, 1919, a large cheering crowd assembled to watch the premeditated murder of John Hartfield.

Theodore Bilbo Theodore Gilmore Bilbo (October 13, 1877 – August 21, 1947) was an American politician who twice served as governor of Mississippi (1916–1920, 1928–1932) and later was elected a U.S. Senator (1935–1947). Bilbo was a demagogue and filibus ...

, the governor of Mississippi, took no action. Hartfield was hanged in a tall sweet gum tree, then his body was riddled with at least 2000 bullets. His body was then brought to the ground where men cut up the corpse for souvenirs, finally burning what remained. Afterward, commemorative postcards of the lynching were printed and sent out. A story circulated among whites that Hartfield had been hanged from the very same tree where the confederates had hanged three insurgents in the civil war. Governor Bilbo declared "This is a white man's country, with a white man's civilization and any dream on the part of the Negro race to share social and political equality will be shattered in the end". Days later, a Black man in

Perry County Perry County may refer to: United States *Perry County, Alabama *Perry County, Arkansas *Perry County, Illinois *Perry County, Indiana *Perry County, Kentucky *Perry County, Mississippi *Perry County, Missouri *Perry County, Ohio * Perry Cou ...

was murdered by a mob because he mentioned Hartfield's death. In the 1920s,

Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...

cited the treatment of Hartsfield in his ''Selected Works''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartfield, John 1919 deaths 1919 murders in the United States 1919 in Mississippi Human trophy collecting Lynching deaths in Mississippi Murdered African-American people People murdered in Mississippi Prisoners murdered in custody June 1919 in the United States Crimes in Mississippi African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement African-American history of Mississippi People from Ellisville, Mississippi Racially motivated violence against African Americans in Mississippi