Samuel Newton Mangum was born on March 12, 1901, in Durham County, North Carolina. Mangum was a private in the Durham Machine Gun Company, a national guard unit. In July 1920, he deployed with his company to Alamance County on orders from the governor to protect three wrongfully accused Black men from a lynch mob. By profession, he was a roofer with a building contractor. Mangum died in Duval County, Florida on January 13, 1975.