Daryl D. Jones: Key Bridge should be named to honor Parren J. Mitchell

Carl Snowden and I have been staunch advocates for naming an appropriate state landmark for Congressman Parren J. Mitchell to remember his great contributions to Maryland and America.  When we are asked why Maryland should recognize him, we respond with the history of this Maryland trailblazing bridge-builder’s contribution to developing a stronger, more robust and inclusive democracy. On April 26, the West County Democratic Club will be joined by Mitchell’s family to celebrate the late congressman’s legacy and demand that the former Francis Scott Key Bridge be rebuilt and renamed after Mitchell, a true bridge-builder. Mitchell was the first African American elected to Congress from Maryland in 1971. He was a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus. He successfully created a federal minority business set-aside program to ensure that women, African Americans and the business community of color had a fair opportunity to access wealth created from federal business contracts. Mitchell successfully sued the then-segregated School of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park for admission to its Master’s program. He became its first African American graduate and the University’s Art & Sociology Building now bears his name. Mitchell was a Purple Heart recipient who served under Gen. George...