Juanita Jackson Mitchell
| Juanita Jackson Mitchell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 2, 1913. Hot Springs, Arkansas |
| Died | July 7, 1992 (aged 79) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | First African-American woman to practice law in Maryland |
Juanita Elizabeth Jackson Mitchell (January 2, 1913 – July 7, 1992) was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas and was the first African-American woman to practice law in Maryland. She was married to Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., mother of two Maryland State Senators, and grandmother of one.
The daughter of Kieffer Albert Jackson and Dr. Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson, Mitchell attended Frederick Douglass High School, Morgan State College and graduated, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in education in 1931. Four years later, she earned a M.A. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania as well. In 1950, she became the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Maryland School of Law, and the first African-American woman to practice law in Maryland.
In her earlier years, Mitchell traveled extensively throughout the U.S. for the Bureau of Negro Work and the Methodist church, speaking and teaching courses in race relations. From 1935 to 1938, she was special assistant to Walter F. White, NAACP Executive Secretary, serving as National Youth Director. There, she organized and developed programs for the organization's Youth and College Division. Mitchell was the president of Maryland’s NAACP Baltimore City branch when she advocated for Baltimore school desegregation and after the 1954 United States Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, she was a major campaigner for making Maryland the first southern state to have integration. She also filed many other cases to desegregate numerous other aspects of segregated life including restaurants, parks and swimming pools. Mitchell also ran voter registration drives in the 1940s, '50s and '60s to help influence and rally African Americans in Baltimore to vote.
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