Broadus Mitchell

Mitchell fue profesora de economía en Johns Hopkins, así como instructora en el Baltimore Labor College , en la Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry , ^{[ 4 ] [ 5 ]} y también en la Southern Summer School for Women Workers en Sweet Briar, Virginia , con Lois Macdonald ^{[ 6 ]} bajo la dirección de Louise Leonard McLaren . ^{[ 3 ]} En 1922, Mitchell también fue miembro del consejo asesor de la Workers' Education Bureau of America . ^{[ 7 ]}

De 1919 a 1939, Mitchell enseñó en la Universidad Johns Hopkins. ^{[ 1 ]} Entre sus alumnos se encontraba el estudiante de pregrado Alger Hiss (quien más tarde recordó a Mitchell como uno de sus profesores favoritos ^{[ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ]} pero negó que el socialismo de Mitchell lo hubiera influenciado ^{[ 13 ]} ). A lo largo de su permanencia en Hopkins, dos cuestiones recurrentes le causaron problemas a Mitchell con la universidad y lo expusieron a críticas: primero, sus ideas políticas y económicas radicales como socialista , y segundo, su postura abierta a favor de la igualdad de derechos según criterios raciales. ^{[ 1 ]} Como relata una fuente:

In 1932 a lynching occurred in Salisbury, Maryland. Mitchell was bothered that it received very little attention in the newspapers or by the police. Mitchell decided to do some detective work. The story went that a suspected murderer, Euel Lee, had been abducted and was hanged in front of the courthouse. Broadus talked with many members of the Eastern Shore community to obtain some basic ideas on the opinions of the people in that region. To his surprise nearly everyone involved in the event had been named, but no one had been arrested for the murder. This was very typical of the lynchings that plagued the South from Reconstruction to as late as the 1950s. Many of those who were involved were well-known people in the area. Fear of being socially ostracized, or worse, prevented most people from taking any action at all. [...] The most frustrating aspect for Mitchell was the fact that the local officials had done nothing about it. Mitchell appealed to the state, which replied that it was entirely within the jurisdiction of the local police. Taking his research public, Mitchell said, 'I abhor lynching and officials who allow it should be impeached... The Southerners whom I know and esteem do not believe that the Negro must remain dependant upon the white man and they believe in the orderly administration of law as opposed to mob violence.' Later when asked to write about his experiences at Hopkins, Mitchell mentioned his frustrations with the lynching and wrote, 'Not only did Eastern Shore peace officers do nothing to identify and arrest members of the lynch mob, but the Governor and Attorney General were quiescent.' Unlike nearly all white Southerners of his day, Broadus Mitchell was willing to publicly criticize an entire white community for violating the essential rights of a single African American man.^[14]

During his time as professor at Johns Hopkins University, those views led to his resignation (1938) over the university's refusal to admit an African American student into the graduate school. The student, Edward Lewis, later headed the New York Urban League.^[1]

Mitchell went on to teach at Occidental College (1939–1941), New York University (1942–1944), Rutgers University (1949–1958), and Hofstra University (1958–1967).^[1]

In 1934, Mitchell ran for governor of Maryland as the Socialist Party's nominee. He finished in third place, receiving 6,773 votes representing 1.32% of the popular vote.^[1]