John Mitchell Jr.

Portrait Courtesy of Meredith Carrington and Barry O'Keefe

JOHN MITCHELL MANOR
3rd Street from Leigh Street to Clay Street

John Mitchell, Jr. was born enslaved on July 11, 1863 at the Laburnum Plantation in Richmond, Virginia to John and Rebecca Mitchell. After graduating from the Richmond Normal High School, he began an apprenticeship with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C. with the support of Frederick Douglass. In 1884, he became editor at theRichmond Planet, which led to his appointment as president of the National Afro-American Press Association. In 1892, he was elected as a city alderman for Jackson Ward before running for governor in 1921. He founded and served as president of the Mechanics Savings Bank in 1902. During this period, he also emerged as a national anti-lynching advocate, alongside Ida B. Wells, and helped to organize one of the nation’s first bus boycotts in 1904. He departed on December 3, 1929 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.