Breaking Barriers From An Early Age
Juanita Jackson Mitchell shattered racial and gender ceilings from a young age. Born in 1913 in Arkansas, she graduated college at the University of Pennsylvania in 1931 when discrimination prevented her from attending Johns Hopkins University.
In 1950, Mitchell became the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Maryland Law School and practice law in the state.
A Lifetime Of Activism And Advocacy
Mitchell’s trailblazing legal career was matched by tireless civil rights activism. In her youth, she established a city-wide NAACP youth forum and led a march on Maryland’s Capitol with 2,000 demonstrators.
As an attorney, Mitchell dismantled segregation in Baltimore schools, recreation facilities and restaurants through landmark lawsuits. She even served as counsel in civil rights cases argued by Thurgood Marshall.
Honoring A Lasting Legacy
In 1992, Maryland lost an icon when Mitchell passed away. However, her legacy continues inspiring future generations through an upcoming community legal center.
Housed in the preserved building Mitchell operated her famed law practice out of, the renovated space will cement her enduring impact on Black legal history.
At just 31 years old in 1950, Juanita Jackson Mitchell altered Maryland’s legal landscape for good as the first African American woman attorney in the state. The center keeping her memory alive will ensure Mitchell’s pathbreaking story empowers the next generation of Black women trailblazers.
