Samuel "Mingo Jack" Johnson (c. 1820 – March 5, 1886) was an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

man falsely accused of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

. He was brutally beaten and hanged by a mob of white men in Eatontown,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

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 A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

, 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

On Friday, March 5, 1886, a white woman, Angelina Herbert, was raped and beaten. She could not identify her attacker but reported that he had asked her, "Do you know Mingo Jack?" The town constable immediately arrested Johnson and locked him up inside the town's small brick jailhouse. Shortly before midnight, a mob of 12 to 20 men gathered outside the jail, fired a pistol through the window, and wielded a pickax and sledgehammer to break down the heavy door. The mob brutally beat and clubbed Johnson, breaking his skull and gouging out one eye before hanging him from the bars across the jailhouse window. Discovered the following day, Johnson's remains were interred in the cemetery of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Eatontown. A sham trial for some members of the lynch mob was held, featuring drunken witnesses and a jury that included prominent resident Thomas White, resulting in acquittals for all the defendants. Evidence from the trial, including testimony from Mrs. Herbert, revealed that Johnson could not have been the rapist. No one was convicted for the murder of Johnson, who left behind a wife and five children. Another black man, George or Richard Kearney, later confessed to the rape, although that confession may have been coerced. Kearney later was hanged for the murder of another woman. 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, commemorating Johnson's murder as one of the only lynchings in New Jersey state history. Memorial to Samuel Johnson

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mingo Jack 1820s births 1886 deaths People murdered in 1886 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 American jockeys Murdered African-American people People murdered in New Jersey

Biography

Lynching

See also

References