Arthur W. Mitchell
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's1st district
In office January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1943
Preceded by	Oscar De Priest
Succeeded by	William Dawson
Personal details
Born	(1883-12-22)December 22, 1883 Lafayette, Alabama
Died	May 9, 1968(1968-05-09) (aged 84) Petersburg, Virginia
Party	Republican (Until 1932)Democratic (After 1932)
Spouse(s)	Eula Mae King (m. January 11, 1905 – d. 1910) 1 son Annie H. Mitchell (marriedc. 1919 – d. March 7, 1947) Clara D. Smith (m. March 20, 1948 – his death May 9, 1968)
Profession	Lawyer,Farmer

Arthur Wergs Mitchell, Sr. (December 22, 1883 – May 9, 1968), was aU.S. representative fromIllinois and civil rights activist. RepresentingIllinois's 1st congressional district, for his entire congressional career from 1935 to 1943, he was the onlyAfrican American in Congress. Asupporter of theNew Deal, Mitchell was the first African American to be elected to theUnited States Congress as aDemocrat.^[1]

Mitchell was born to Taylor Mitchell and Emma (Patterson) inLafayette, Alabama.^[1] He left home at 14 to attend theTuskegee Institute. He worked on a farm and as an office boy toBooker T. Washington while attending the Institute. Mitchell attendedColumbia University briefly and qualified for the bar.^[1] He then moved toChicago, Illinois and began to work for theRepublican Party. Mitchell switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party in 1932 as he was “ambitious and impatient with the entrenched black Republican leadership, [seeking] a chance for personal advancement in the concurrent rise of the national Democratic party."^[2] He was a member ofPhi Beta Sigma fraternity and served as its 6th International President from 1926–1934.

Mitchell was elected to the House of Representatives in 1934, defeating African American congressmanOscar De Priest, who was aRepublican. During the election campaign, Mitchell emphasized his support for theNew Deal and PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt's public relief programs,^[3] in addition to criticizing De Priest's opposition to segregation as ineffective.^[4] After Mitchell won the election with 53% of the vote, De Priest told him "I congratulate you as [the] first Negro Democratic congressman."^[3]

In Congress, Mitchell introduced bills banninglynching and against discrimination. He filed a lawsuit against theIllinois Central andRock Island Railroads after he was forced into asegregated train car just before it passed intoArkansas.^[1] Mitchell's suit was advanced to theU.S. Supreme Court as caseMitchell v. United States,^[5] which ruled that the railroad violated theInterstate Commerce Act. He voluntarily chose not to seek re-election in 1942. As his last congressional act, Mitchell condemned politicians as preferring theAxis powers over giving Negros any rights, comparing the atrocities of the Nazis and Japanese with lynchings such as those that hadrecently occurred in Shubuta, Mississippi.^[6]

Despite having been elected to Congress in part on campaigning against De Priest's civil rights record as weak, Mitchell himself faced accusations by civil rights advocates of making insufficient efforts.^[1] In one instance, theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People deemed his introduced anti-lynching bill as too lenient.

He moved toVirginia and became a farmer, working 12acres (4.9hectares) of property. He died at his home inPetersburg, Virginia, on May 9, 1968.

• List of African-American firsts
• List of African-American United States representatives
• List of Phi Beta Sigma brothers

• United States Congress."Arthur Wergs Mitchell (id: M000805)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Barnes, Catherine A. (1983).Journey From Jim Crow: The Desegregation of Southern Transit. New York: Columbia University Press.ISBN 9780231053808.
• O'Connor, Allison (November 14, 2007).Arthur Wergs Mitchell (1883–1968).BlackPast.

• "Arthur Wergs Mitchell, 1883–1968".Black Americans in Congress, 1870–2007(PDF).United States Government Printing Office. 2008. pp. 286–291.ISBN 9780160801945.
• Nordin, Dennis Sven (September 18, 2007)."Arthur Wergs Mitchell".The Encyclopedia of Alabama.Auburn University,University of Alabama,Alabama State Department of Education. Retrieved9 September 2014.
• Nordin, Dennis Sven (1997).The New Deal's Black Congressman: A Life of Arthur Wergs Mitchell. University of Missouri Press.ISBN 9780826211026.

• African-American United States representatives
• African-American people in Illinois politics
• Activists for African-American civil rights
• American anti-lynching activists
• Politicians from Chicago
• 1883 births
• 1968 deaths
• People from LaFayette, Alabama
• Politicians from Petersburg, Virginia
• Illinois Republicans
• Democratic Party United States representatives from Illinois
• Columbia University alumni
• 20th-century African-American politicians
• 20th-century United States representatives

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