Charles Lewis Mitchell
Undated sketch from Mitchell's obituary in The Crisis (1912)[1]
Member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
from the 6th Suffolk district [2]
In office
1867–1867
Personal details
BornNovember 10, 1829
Hartford, Connecticut
DiedApril 13, 1912(1912-04-13) (aged 82)
Political partyRepublican
SpouseNellie Brown Mitchell

Charles Lewis Mitchell (November 10, 1829 – April 13, 1912) was a printer, officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and state legislator in Massachusetts.[3] Along with Edward G. Walker, Mitchell was one of the first two African Americans to serve in the Massachusetts General Court.

Early life

Mitchell was born in Hartford, Connecticut.[3] In 1853 he began work as a printer for William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. During the American Civil War he served in the 55th Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Infantry and was wounded at the Battle of Honey Hill in South Carolina, resulting in the loss of one foot.[4] For his courage in action at Honey Hill, Mitchell was promoted to second lieutenant.[1]

After the war, Mitchell married Nellie Brown, a noted popular singer in Boston.[5]

Political career

In 1866, Mitchell was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a Republican, representing the sixth ward of Boston. Taking his seat in January 1867, he and Edward G. Walker became the first African Americans to hold legislative offices in Massachusetts.[6] During his one term in the House, Mitchell served on the House Standing Committee on Printing.[7] In 1869, he was appointed as an inspector in the U.S. customs office in Boston, and subsequently promoted to clerk. Mitchell served in the customs office for forty years until his retirement in 1909.[8]

At William Lloyd Garrison's funeral in Boston, in May 1879, Mitchell was one of eight pallbearers, along with Wendell Phillips and Lewis Hayden. Nellie Brown Mitchell also sang at the funeral, as part of a quartet of African American singers.[9]

In 1897, at the unveiling of Augustus Saint-Gaudens's celebrated memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, Mitchell was formally in attendance along with his former commanding officer in the 55th Massachusetts, Norwood Penrose Hallowell.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Men of the Month," The Crisis, vol. 4, No. 3 (July 1912), pp. 118-19
  2. ^ Court, Massachusetts General (1867). Manual for the Use of the General Court. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. hdl:2452/40645 – via State Library of Massachusetts.
  3. ^ a b Johnson, Robert Jr. (2013). "Mitchell, Charles Lewis". Oxford African American Studies Center. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.37520. ISBN 9780195301731.
  4. ^ Baum, Dale (1983). "Woman Suffrage and the "Chinese Question": The Limits of Radical Republicanism in Massachusetts, 1865-1876". New England Quarterly: 62.
  5. ^ "Nellie Brown Mitchell, A Prominent African American Opera Singer During the 1850′s and 1860′s, and Wife of African American Civil War Soldier".
  6. ^ Hewitt, John H. (Autumn 1991). "A Black New York Newspaperman's Impressions of Boston, 1883". The Massachusetts Review. 32 (3): 453.
  7. ^ "Edwin Garrison Walker and Charles Lewis Mitchell". 7 April 2011.
  8. ^ Daniels, John. In Freedom's Birthplace: A Study of the Boston Negroes (Boston and New York: 1914), pp. 115-16
  9. ^ Tributes to William Lloyd Garrison at the Funeral Services, May 28, 1879 (Boston: Houghton, Osgood and Company 1879), pp. 8, 15.
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