Parren Mitchell, the first Black member of Congress from Maryland, honored with memorial

by William J. Ford, Maryland Matters
May 29, 2025

Keiffer Mitchell Jr. remembers that his uncle, the late Rep. Parren J. Mitchell, would always arrive a bit late for November and Christmas dinners.

“We would say, ‘Uncle Parren, where you were? How come you were late?’” the younger Mitchell said in an interview Wednesday. “He sat and had dinner with the men and women in the penitentiary. He represented his people.”

It was just one of the memories shared Wednesday at the dedication of a memorial honoring Parren Mitchell, the first African American member of Congress from Maryland as well as a pioneer in other areas.

A few hundred friends, family members and dignitaries braved the rain to honor Mitchell during the dedication of the black stone memorial at the Pip Moyer Recreation Center in Annapolis, featuring images and words from the late congressman’s life.

Wednesday was the anniversary of Mitchell’s death in 2007 at age 85. He made history as the first Black member of Congress from Maryland, but Mitchell was making a name for himself well before his election to the House in 1970.

Born and raised in Baltimore, he joined the Army in 1942 and was assigned to the all-Black 92nd Infantry Division. He served in Italy, earning a Purple Heart, and on his return used his GI Bill money to earn a bachelor’s degree from what was then Morgan State College. He then successfully sued for the right to attend the University of Maryland, College Park, becoming the first Black graduate student on the campus and earning a master’s in sociology.

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He was elected to Congress in 1970 from Maryland’s 7th District and served eight terms before stepping down in 1987. He was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and a fierce advocate for policies protecting small- and minority-owned businesses. When then-President Jimmy Carter signed the Small Business Act and Small Business Investment Act in 1978, the legislation included amendments from Mitchell to fund and support minority businesses.

When Sen. Nick Charles (D-Prince George’s) and Del. H. Scott Phillips (D-Baltimore County) sponsored proposals in the 2024 legislature requiring state agencies to set aside 10% of contracts for minority- and veteran-owned businesses, they named it for Mitchell. Their bill ultimately passed and was signed into law.

“Congressman Parren Mitchell did so much that, even in his death, that his legacy still lives on,” said Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery), chair of the Legislative Black Caucus. “Our Maryland Black Caucus will continue to make sure that his legacy and his work and his leadership lives in all of the work that we do.”

Gov. Wes Moore (D) — who attended the 90-minute ceremony with his wife, Dawn Flythe Moore — credited Mitchell’s trailblazing with making it possible for him to be governor today.

“I want to be very, very clear: I am not the 63rd governor of the state of Maryland had it not been for Congressman Parren Mitchell,” Moore said at Wednesday’s event.

Moore also read a citation which he gave to the Mitchell family.

“What you see here is you see an entire mosaic of our state in celebration. Today is not just a great day for Anne Arundel County. Today is a great day for the state of Maryland and a great day for the United States of America,” Moore said to a warm applause.

Moore received a standing ovation when he walked to the microphone to speak on the importance of Mitchell’s legacy.

Not everyone was as welcoming of Moore, who this month vetoed a bill that would have created a Maryland Reparations Commission.

“We need that reparations bill. We need it,” Greg Thrasher shouted toward Moore. Thrasher, who recently moved to Anne Arundel County from Michigan, said he is not part of a local Black Lives Matter group, but after elected officials and others were acknowledged, he yelled, “Black Lives Matters is here, too.”

But most of the afternoon’s proceedings were celebratory. The Caucus of African American Leaders and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee led efforts that helped raise $100,000 for the memorial in just four months.

Although Mitchell was a Baltimore City native, the memorial in Annapolis has a Mitchell connection: His nephew, former state Sen. Michael Mitchell, was arrested during a sit-in at a segregated restaurant in Annapolis and called Moyer, a former mayor, to post his bail, according to an article in Eye on Annapolis.

Parren Mitchell’s niece, Lisa Mitchell Sennaar, thanked everyone and mentioned her uncle didn’t have any children.

“I see the legacy of Parren Mitchell in this room. We are His children. We are his legacy,” said Mitchell Sennaar, a small business reserve compliance manager in the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority and Women Business Affairs.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.