Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.

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President Lyndon Johnson with Mitchell in 1964.
President Lyndon Johnson with Mitchell in 1964.
Mitchell Courthouse, Baltimore Md.
Mitchell Courthouse, Baltimore Md.
President Lyndon Johnson with Martin Luther King, Mitchell and others at the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
President Lyndon Johnson with Martin Luther King, Mitchell and others at the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
President Lyndon Johnson meets with Mitchell and other black leaders after the death of Martin Luther King in 1968.
President Lyndon Johnson meets with Mitchell and other black leaders after the death of Martin Luther King in 1968.

Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. (March 8, 1911 - March 19, 1984) was a civil rights activist and was the chief lobbyist for the NAACP for nearly 30 years.[1] He also served as a regional director for the organization. Mitchell, nicknamed "the 101st U.S. Senator", waged a tireless campaign on Capitol Hill to secure the passage of a comprehensive series of civil rights laws: the 1957 Civil Rights Act, the 1960 Civil Rights Act, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act.[2] In 1969 he won the Spingarn Medal for these efforts. Later he faced some criticism in the black community for supporting Daniel Patrick Moynihan, see Assistant Secretary of Labor; controversy over the War on Poverty, and defending the state of Israel. After his retirement, he wrote a Sunday editorial column for the Baltimore Sun, every Sunday, until he died in 1984. The Sun called it "an extraordinary commentary on the civil rights movement." On March 23, 1984, the Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church overflowed with 2,500 mourners who gathered from around the country to pay their respects. Inculed among them was Harry R. Hughes, the Governor of Maryland, William Donald Schaefer, the mayor of Baltimore, Benjamin Hooks, director of the NAACP, and Dorothy Height, president od the national council of negro women. A week after his death, the newspaper proposed that there be a physical memorial to Mitchell. Mayor Schaefer agreed and appointed a commission to study the recommendation. ,[3] Today, the main court house[4] in Baltimore City has been renamed the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse as well as a 35,000 square foot building that houses the engineering program at Morgan State University.

[edit] Family

Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. was married to Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Esq. who was an NAACP activist and the first African-American female admitted to practice law in the State of Maryland and the daughter of Baltimore NAACP leader Dr. Lillie Carroll Jackson. His father, Clarence M. Mitchell, Sr., was a waiter and his mother, Elsie Davis Mitchell was a homemaker. Mitchell's brother, Parren Mitchell was a congressman from Maryland. The Mitchell's sons Clarence M. Mitchell, III and Michael B. Mitchell, Sr. both served as Baltimore City councilmen and later, Marland State Senators. The Mitchells' grandsons also are involved in Baltimore politics. Clarence M. Mitchell, IV was a Maryland State Senator from Maryland's 44th legislative district. Keiffer J. Mitchell, Jr. was a Baltimore City Councilman until unsuccessfully campaigning for Mayor of Baltimore in 2007.

[edit] Web sources

  1. ^ The New Crisis via find articles
  2. ^ Library of Congress on the Mitchell family
  3. ^ Sterne, Joseph R. L., editor, Sun Magazine Special Edition Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., A Vision of Justice, A legacy of Humanity, 1911-1984. Baltimore: The Baltimore Sun, 1985. p. 2
  4. ^ Courthouse Plan Mapped, Renovation Program Recommended To Mayor, Baltimore (Morning) Sun, Wednesday, November 6, 1946

[edit] External links

Clarence Mitchell, Jr. Collection. University of Maryland School of Law, Thurgood Marshall Law Library.