ARTHUR WERGS MITCHELL


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Mitchell was the first African American to be elected to the United States Congress as a Democrat. The few other Blacks were Republicans from the Reconstruction period after the Civil War. The President was FDR and Mitchell was elected in the midst of the Great Depression.


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Arthur Wergs Mitchell
Arthur Wergs Mitchell
  • Born: December 22, 1883
  • Died: May 9, 1968
  • Nationality:
  • Profession: Lawyer

Arthur Wergs Mitchell was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. For his entire congressional career from 1935 to 1943, he was the only African American in Congress. Mitchell was the first African American to be elected to the United States Congress as a Democrat—he replaced Oscar De Priest, a Republican.