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December 22
He was the first black representative elected as a democrat. Mitchell was from Lafayette, Alabama; he attended public schools and entered the Tuskegee Institute in 1897. He worked his way through school as a laborer and as an office boy for Booker T. Washington. He eventually taught in rural schools with an emphasis on farm management and he served as president of Agricultural School in West Butler, Alabama for ten years. Mitchell began practicing law in Washington D. C. in 1927 and two years later moved to Chicago where he had some dealings in real estate. He was elected to the seventy-fourth congress in 1935, denouncing the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and condemning the Mussolini regime. In 1937, Mitchell traveled to Arkansas. As the train crossed the state line Mitchell was forced to ride the rest of the way in a decrepit “Jim Crow” car. He immediately challenged transportation segregation through political means. Throughout his career, Mitchell issued bills holding state and local offices accountable for lynching and to prohibit racial discrimination. He chose not to run for reelection in 1942, Arthur Mitchell died on May 9th 1968. Reference: Black Americans In Congress 1870-1989. Bruce A. Ragsdale & Joel D. Treese U.S. Government Printing Office Raymond W. Smock, historian and director 1990 E185.96.R25 To become a Politician
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