Parren Mitchell, born April 29, 1922 in Baltimore, Maryland, became the first African-American Representative from Maryland. After high school, he joined the U.S. Army in 1942 as a commissioned officer and company commander in the all-black 92nd Infantry Division in WWII. He earned a Purple Heart for his service in Italy.
In 1950, he sued the University of Maryland for admission and became the school's first African-American graduate student, with a MA in sociology in 1952.
He was elected to Congress in the election in 1970 and sworn into Congress in 1971. He served until 1987.
In 1977, he proposed transferring $15M from the military budget for programs to increase employment in the U.S. He is quoted as saying,
“I have no great fear of the Soviet Union or China,” Mitchell remarked. “If this democracy should ever fail it will come from within because of the enormous disparity between the rich and the poor.”
His words are applicable now more than ever.
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