Lynching in America – The Lynching of Louis Senegal and Antoine Domingue

Marker Text: Mobs of white people brutally lynched two Black men, Louis Senegal and Antoine Domingue, within an 11-year period in Carencro, Louisiana. On March 24, 1896, 500 white men abducted Mr. Senegal, who was also referred to as Louis Sinclair, from the Carencro jail and hanged him to death. Police left Mr. Senegal’s cell unguarded despite knowing the mob’s clear intentions to lynch him. The mob targeted him after he was arrested for alleged sexual impropriety with a white woman. Almost 25% of lynchings involved allegations of sexual impropriety at a time when the mere accusation against a Black man of inappropriate behavior with a white woman regularly aroused violent mobs and ended in lynching. The following decade, on November 24, 1906, a mob of 100 prominent white farmers identified as “whitecaps” lynched Antoine Domingue in Carencro during a reign of terror against Black residents. It was reported that the “sole object” of the mob, which seized control of Carencro’s main roads and attacked Black travelers, was to “terrorize” Black community members “to the point of departure.” The mob ambushed Mr. Domingue as he was walking home at night, beat him on the head with a club, robbed him of his horse and buggy, and shot him to death. In the aftermath, Black people fled the parish in large numbers, fearing further mob attacks. Though some mob members were identified, no one was ever held accountable for lynching Louis Senegal and Antoine Domingue.