DID YOU KNOW THAT?

1913 - Juanita Jackson Mitchell, the first African American woman to practice law in Maryland, was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Mitchell earned her Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in education and her Master of Arts degree... in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1931 and 1935, respectively. From 1935 to 1938, she served as national youth director for the NAACP. In 1950, Mitchell became the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Maryland School of Law and the first admitted to the Maryland bar. Mitchell served as president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP and filed many cases to desegregate public facilities, including restaurants, parks, and swimming pools. She was named to the White House Conference on Women and Civil Rights by President John F. Kennedy and in 1966 was named to the White House Conference to Fulfill These Rights by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1987, Mitchell was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame. Mitchell died July 7, 1992 and annually the NAACP awards the Juanita Jackson Mitchell Legal Activism Award to a unit for exemplary legal redress committee activities.