Mitchell, Arthur Wergs, 1883-1968
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Sources of Information
- African American National Biography, accessed March 5, 2015, via Oxford African American Studies Center database:(Mitchell, Arthur Wergs; U.S. representative; born 22 December 1883 in Chambers County, Alabama, United States; earned a teacher's certification from Snow Hill Normal and Industrial Institution in Alabama; taught in rural schools (until 1908); founded Armstrong Agricultural College in West Butler, Alabama (1908); studied law at Harvard and Columbia; admitted to the bar (1927); campaigned for Republican candidates (1928); bolted to the Democrats (1932); the first African American to speak from the floor at a Democratic convention; exposed in Congress racial discrimination in the civil service, nominated black cadets to West Point and Annapolis, and condemned anti-Semitism in Germany; pledged unswerving loyalty to Roosevelt's New Deal; increasing numbers of blacks voted for Mitchell and his party (after 1936); retired from Congress (1942); died 09 May 1968 in Petersburg, Virginia, United States)
- The New Deal's Black congressman, 1997:CIP t.p. (Arthur Wergs Mitchell) galley (Arthur W. Mitchell; b. 1883, Alabama; d. 1968, Petersburg, Va.; first Afro-American democrat in Congress; Chicago Representative, 1935-1943)