BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " ARTHUR W. MITCHELL " WAS A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS AND FIRST ELECTED AFRICAN AMERICAN TO BE ELECTED AS A DEMOCRAT TO CONGRESS :: GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

               BLACK   SOCIAL  HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                           Arthur W. Mitchell

BLACK                  SOCIAL                 HISTORY

Arthur W. Mitchell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 1st district
In office January 3, 1935 - January 3, 1943
Preceded by	Oscar S. De Priest
Succeeded by	William L. Dawson
Personal details
Born	December 22, 1883 near Lafayette, Alabama
Died	May 9, 1968 (aged 84) Petersburg, Virginia
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Lawyer Farmer

Arthur Wergs Mitchell (December 22, 1883 – May 9, 1968) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Mitchell was the first African American to be elected to the United States Congress as a Democrat.

Mitchell was born near Lafayette, Alabama. He left home at 14 to go to the Tuskegee Institute. He worked on a farm and as an office boy to Booker T. Washington while attending the Institute. Mitchell attended Columbia University briefly and qualified for the bar. He then moved to Chicago, Illinois and began to work for the Republican Party. Mitchell switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party in 1932 after finding that his views on issues aligned himself closer to the Democrats. He was a member of Phi 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 congressman Oscar De Priest, who was aRepublican. Mitchell introduced bills banning lynching and against discrimination. He filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Central andRock Island Railroads after he was forced into a segregated train car just before it passed into Arkansas. Mitchell's suit was advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court as case Mitchell v. United States,^[1] which ruled that the railroad violated the Interstate Commerce Act. He voluntarily chose not to seek re-election in 1942. He moved to Virginia and farmed twelve acres (49,000 m²) of property. He died at his home in Petersburg, Virginia on May 9, 1968.