New Scholarship Program Honors Congressman Parren Mitchell, Who Was First African-American Graduate Student at the University of Maryland

The Maryland Higher Education Commission has established a new college scholarship program to honor Parren J. Mitchell, the African-American politician who served eight terms as a congressman from Baltimore. The program authorizes up to 10 full-tuition scholarships to state universities to students who agree to work in public service once they earn their degrees.

In 1950 Mitchell filed a lawsuit to gain admission to a graduate school of the University of Maryland. He prevailed in the litigation and was the first African-American student to enroll in the graduate school. He earned a master’s degree in sociology in 1952.

Mitchell died in 2007.

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