Reverend James Mitchell (September 14, 1818 – March 2, 1903) was the United States Commissioner of Emigration f negroesin the

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

administration, and a prominent religious leader in the Georgia Episcopal Methodist Conference after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. Mitchell was born to Protestant parents in

Derry, Ireland Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

in 1818, and migrated to America in the 1830s. He became a Methodist preacher in Indiana near where his family had settled and became an advocate of

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. ...

and

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

. In 1848 Mitchell took the job of Secretary of the

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the repatriation of freeborn peop ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, and first met Abraham Lincoln in that capacity. Lincoln appointed Mitchell Commissioner of Emigration on August 4, 1862. In this capacity he was to oversee the establishment of one or more colonies abroad for freed slaves. Mitchell organized Lincoln's infamous August 14, 1862, address to a "Deputation of Negroes" at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

, where Lincoln proclaimed "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence." After the Civil War, Mitchell returned to the ministry in the Methodist church. He took his ministry to

Mount Zion, Georgia Mount Zion is a city in Carroll County, Georgia, Carroll County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The population was 1,696 at the 2010 census. History The City of Mount Zion was established in 1852 by Reverend Thomas Hicks Martin (M ...

, in 1877 and founded the Mount Zion Seminary, the predecessor institution of the current Mount Zion High School. Mitchell served as director of the Seminary until his death in 1903. In his later years he was frequently visited by reporters and other guests because of his connection to Lincoln, at a time when most of Lincoln's other associates had already died.

Sources

"Obituary: James Mitchell, Private Secretary to President Lincoln." ''The Washington Post'' March 3, 1903

Sources

References

Further reading