"Juanita Jackson Mitchell"(January 2,1913-July,1992)

Was born in Hot Springs,Arkansas,and was the first African American woman to

practice law in Maryland.She was married to Clarence M.Mitchell,Jr and the mother of two State Senators and the grandmother of third.The daughter of Kieffer Albert Jackson and Dr.Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson,Juanita attended Frederick Douglass High School,Morgan State College and graduated,cum laude,from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in education in 1931.Four years later she earned  a M.A. sociology from the University of Pennsylvania as well.In 1950 she became the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Maryland School of Law,and the first admitted to the bar.In her earlier years,Juanita traveled extensively throughout the U.S. for the Bureau of Negro Work and the Methodist church,speaking and teaching courses in race relations.From 1935 to 1938,she was special assistant to Walter White,NAACP Executive Secretary,serving as National Youth Director.There she organized and developed programs for the organization's Youth and College Division.Juanita was the president of Maryland's NAACP Baltimore City branch when she advocated for Baltimore school desegregation and after the case in 1954,Brown vs Board of education,she was a major campigner for making Maryland the first southern state to have integration.Juanita also filled many other cases to desegregate  numerous other aspects of segregated life including restaurants,parks and swimming pools.She also ran voter registration drives in the 40's,50'sand 60's to help influence and rally African Americans in Baltimore to vote.Juanita was also in the political arena for being  a crusader and leader.She was named to the White House Conference on"Women and Civil Rights"by John F. Kennedy and in 1966 she was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to the White House Conference "To Fulfill These Rights"which dealt with finding solutions concerning African Americans in relations to economic security,education and justice.In 1987 she was inducted,along with her mother,into the Maryland Women's Hall of fame.The NAACP has also recognized Juanita for her accomplishments and has created a "Juanita Jackson Mitchell Award for Legal Activism"to honor her feats as a black woman in the legal field.In 1938,she married Clarence M. Mitchell Jr.,who was known nationally for being a civil rights activist,being dubbed "the 101stSenator."She was the daughter of Dr.Lillie Jackson,who was also a major civil rights leaderand who was also president of the NAACP Baltimore branch and was known as "Mother of Freedom."Juanita came from a long line of civil activists and continued the line.She was the mother of former state senators Michael B.Mitchell and Clarence M. Mitchell,3.Her grandson,Keiffer J.Mitchell,Jr.,was a member of the Baltimore City Council and ran for Mayor of Baltimore in 2007.Juanita was rendered a quadriplegic in November 1989 after falling down a flight of stairs.While undergoing therapy for that injury,she suffered a stroke,her second since 1985;she died in Baltimore and stroke.