Lynching of Robert Lewis

Robert Lewis
Robert Lewis, illustrated in The Tri-States Union.
Born	1864 United States
Died	June 2, 1892 (aged 28) Port Jervis, New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Lynching

Robert Lewis was a 28-year-old African American man who was lynched in Port Jervis, New York on June 2, 1892. His lynching was attended by what the local newspaper reported was a mob of 2,000 people, ^[1] and may have inspired Stephen Crane's novella The Monster . ^[2]

Lewis was accused by the mob of assaulting a white woman, Lena McMahon, in an incident by the Neversink River, ^[1] after she had possibly been meeting with her estranged suitor, a white man named Peter Foley. ^[3]

References

Illustration of lynching from The Evening World .

1. "A Lynching in New York 130 Years Ago Shows That The North Isn't Immune to Racial Hatred". Time. June 2, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
2. Goldsby, Jacqueline Denise (2006). A spectacular secret : lynching in American life and literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 110. ISBN   0-226-30137-0. OCLC   1151339348.
3. Burrell, Kristopher B. (2003). "Bob Lewis' Encounter with the 'Great Death:' Port Jervis' Entrance into the 'United States of Lyncherdom". CUNY Academic Works. Hostos Community College.