district succeeded death_place death_date birth_place party profession preceded term article_title state name
1st william l. dawson petersburg , virginia 9 may 1968 near lafayette , alabama democrat lawyer farmer oscar s. de priest january 3 , 1935 - january 3 , 1943 arthur w. mitchell
 illinois arthur w. mitchell
arthur w. mitchell

arthur wergs mitchell -lrb- december 22 , 1883 -- may 9 , 1968 -rrb- was a u.s. representative from illinois .
mitchell was the first african american to be elected to the united states congress as a democrat .
mitchell was born near lafayette , alabama .
he left home at 14 to go to the tuskegee institute .
he worked on a farm and as an office boy to booker t. washington while attending the institute .
mitchell attended columbia university briefly and qualified for the bar .
he then moved to chicago , illinois and began to work for the republican party .
mitchell switched from the republican party to the democratic party in 1932 after finding that his views on issues aligned himself closer to the democrats .
he was a member of phi beta sigma fraternity and served as its 6th international president from 1926-1934 .
mitchell was elected to the house of representatives in 1934 , defeating african american congressman oscar de priest , who was a republican .
mitchell introduced bills banning lynching and against discrimination .
he filed a lawsuit against the illinois central and rock island railroads after he was forced into a segregated train car just before it passed into arkansas .
mitchell 's suit was advanced to the u.s. supreme court as case `` mitchell v. united states '' , which ruled that the railroad violated the interstate commerce act .
he voluntarily chose not to seek re-election in 1942 .
he moved to virginia and farmed twelve acres -lrb- 49,000 m ² -rrb- of property .
he died at his home in petersburg , virginia on may 9 , 1968 .
