UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL TO JOIN WITH
THE NEW JERSEY SOCIAL JUSTICE REMEMBRANCE COALITION
FOR THE BEARING WITNESS SOIL COLLECTION PROJECT

Traveling Exhibit Commemorates Juneteenth

and Memorializes the Legacy of Samuel “Mingo Jack” Johnson

NEWARK. NJ and EATONTOWN, NJ – As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity and equity both in the hospital and in its community, University Hospital (UH) announced today that it has joined with the New Jersey Social Justice Remembrance Coalition (NJSJRC) for the Bearing Witness Soil Collection Project, a traveling exhibit where the soil collected from the site of the only recorded lynching in New Jersey, the lynching and murder of Samuel “Mingo Jack” Johnson, will be exhibited. University Hospital will reveal the soil display to staff during its Juneteenth Celebration on Friday, June 17, 2022 at 1 p.m.

A primary vessel of soil, which will be housed permanently at the Historic T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, will be on display at University Hospital, elsewhere in Newark, and across New Jersey in time for Juneteenth, while other vessels will travel throughout the state.  Bearing Witness is a table-top display with an engraved soil jar, accompanied with literature and handouts related to the violent murder of Mr. Johnson.

“At University Hospital, we are proud of the rich diversity of our workforce and the communities we serve, which empower us to live our mission to deliver exceptional care to every patient, every time.  In the pursuit of our vision to partner with our communities to improve health for generations to come, we must remain open to learning the lessons of the past as we grow into our future. It is because of our diversity that we are, and will always strive to be, a model for peaceful discourse and inclusion in our daily operations,” said Mary Maples, Interim President and CEO of University Hospital. “We welcome this collaboration with the Bearing Witness project to provide our team and our communities with another opportunity to reflect on the violent history of racism and center ourselves on our commitment to equity and inclusion.”

In partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama, the NJSJRC asks viewers to join in bearing witness to this personal and community tragedy, and to reflect on actions we can take today to end the ongoing perpetuation of racial violence and inequality.

As part of the Community Remembrance Collection Project, the nationwide program gathers soil at lynching sites to display in exhibits bearing the victims’ names. The NJSJRC held a soil collection ceremony last October that attracted a large outpouring of community members from all sectors.  The NJSJRC partners with communities in New Jersey and beyond to document and memorialize sites of enslavement, racial terror lynching, and segregation, for the purpose of fostering meaningful dialogue about race and justice today.

Samuel “Mingo Jack” Johnson was an African American resident of Eatontown, who was murdered on March 5, 1886, after being arrested on unsubstantiated charges of raping a white woman.  He was dragged by a local mob from his prison cell and brutally beaten and hanged to death, the only known lynching in New Jersey.

“At University Hospital, our core values of respect, integrity, teamwork, reliability and stewardship guide us in all that we do. These values are witnessed in our work across the human experience and function as the cornerstones of our equity, inclusion and antiracism strategies,” said Chris Pernell, MD, MPH, FACPM, Chief Strategic Integration and Health Equity Officer. “As we grieve the lives lost to violence nationwide, we purposefully remember those whose lives were stolen by racism, bias and hatred. As we center the human experience, we uphold these truths: each of us is fully human and deserving of the healing, health and hope that equity and justice demand.”

On June 17, the community can join a virtual presentation via Zoom and Facebook live at 1pm. The public may register in advance for this event at: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HAk-xXf5TAynIvKggOciOQ

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About the New Jersey Social Justice Remembrance Coalition (NJSJRC)
The NJSJRC is an interfaith, multi-ethnic group of individuals and organizations throughout the state who have come together to ensure that the residents of New Jersey are aware of historical incidents of racial bias. Learn more by going to www.njremembrance.org. The Equal Justice Initiative website offers many useful and free resources, including lesson plans, films, oral histories, and informative articles.  https://eji.org/reports/lynching-in-america/

About University Hospital
University Hospital is one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers and is the Level 1 Trauma Center for Northern New Jersey. Located at University Heights in Newark, University Hospital is a principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences and a regional resource for advanced services across many medical specialties. For more information about University Hospital, please visit www.uhnj.org.