Oral History of the U.S. House of Representatives

Congressman Paul Findley of Illinois sponsored Frank Mitchell, the first African-American Page in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Image courtesy of the Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives

In this 2008 image, Frank Mitchell stands on the East Front plaza on the House side of the Capitol. Reflecting on his Page experience Mitchell noted, “the perspective of what I did and when I did it is really only something I’ve thought about from a deep historical context in the last few years. I mean, it was five weeks after the Edmund Pettus Bridge incident in Selma, Alabama. That’s—I mean, again, why my mother let me go or how my mother let me go is incredible to me.”

Image courtesy of the Office of History and Preservation, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives

At the age of 15, Frank Mitchell broke racial barriers when he was officially named a House Page in 1965. In this image Mitchell is flanked (from left to right) by Illinois Representatives Paul Findley and Les Arends, and Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford of Michigan.

Photograph, 1965, Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

On April 14, 1965, Frank Mitchell was appointed the first African-American House Page.

Photograph, 1965, Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives