A FAMILY SCRAPBOOK OF THE POLITICAL CAREER OF ARTHUR W. MITCHELL, THE FIRST BLACK DEMOCRAT ELECTED TO CONGRESS

ARTHUR W. MITCHELL (1883-1968).  Mitchell was the first Black Democrat elected to Congress.  He served Illinois from 1935 to 1943, and he was the only Black member during that time.  Born in Alabama, he attended the Tuskegee Institute, Columbia University and Harvard University.  Although Mitchell was a Republican early in life, he switched parties in 1932 with the election of Franklin Roosevelt.  In 1934, he defeated the Black Congressman Oscar De Priest.  Much of his time in Congress was spent introducing anti-lynching and anti-discrimination bills.

Scrapbook. Approximately 50 pages. Circa mid 1930s.  A scrapbook covering the early political career of Congressman Arthur W. Mitchell; it was kept by Harriet Mitchell in Birmingham, Alabama (this is likely his sister, as Congressman Mitchell was from Alabama).  The scrapbook mostly consists of press clippings, many with original halftone images of Mitchell.  The origin of the clippings is clearly marked, and many of them are from prominent Black newspapers, such as The Washington Tribune, The Afro American (with stories like “No Rear Door For Mitchell at Abe’s Tomb” and “To Attend White House Reception”), The Pittsburgh Courier (“Congressman Mitchell Fights Discrimination In The Civil Service”), The Second Ward Square Dealer of Chicago (“Millions Laud Congressman Mitchell For Great Act”) and The St. Louis Argus.  There are also pasted-in articles from more mainstream newspapers, such as The Birmingham News, Chicago World, The Birmingham Weekly Review (“Congressman Mitchell Defies Foes, Defends His ‘Pet’ Bill”), Time magazine, The Chicago Daily Times and others.  Also tipped in are ten separates from The Congressional Record (“Not Printed At Government Expense”, so the Congressman paid for these).  They record Mitchell speeches, mostly about lynch mobs but one on Booker T. Washington and another on “The Negro and the Democratic Party.”  There is a photograph of a Franklin D. Roosevelt signed letter to Mitchell.  There is also an illustrated political campaign broadside of Mitchell’s dating from mid 1930s against his opponent DePriest in which he denigrates DePriest for allowing black Gold Star Mothers to be sent overseas via a cattle boat to visit their sons graves.  As the scrapbook was ephemeral, the pages are brittle and loose from the original binding, although no pages are seemingly missing.  Some pages have various degrees of soiling.  One page uses two rusted paper clips.  Despite the condition issues, this scrapbook is historic; Mitchell’s election heralded the future many Blacks found in the Democratic Party, leaving behind the party of Lincoln.  It is also a family memento, indicating the pride that his sister felt for her accomplished brother.