This Day in Black History: April 28, 1941

Congressman Arthur Mitchell (D-Illinois) successfully argues to the U.S. Supreme Court that African-Americans are entitled to interstate railroad seating equal to white passengers.
By Britt Middleton
Posted: 04/28/2012 07:00 AM EDT
Filed Under segregation, U.S. Supreme Court, National News, Arthur Mitchell

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Congressman Arthur Mitchell (D-Illinois) successfully argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that African-Americans were entitled to railroad accommodations equal to white passengers. A conductor forced Mitchell to give up his first-class accommodations for a “Jim Crow” car on a trip from Chicago to Arkansas in 1937. Mitchell, the only African-American congressman of the era and the first Black Democrat elected to Congress, brought the case before the High Court in March 1941. The Supreme Court would unanimously rule in Mitchell’s favor.

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