Reavis Mitchell Jr.
*Reavis Mitchell was born on this date in 1947. He was a Black historian and academic administrator.
Reavis Lee Mitchell Jr. was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He attended St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School and Pearl High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Fisk University, a Master of Science from Tennessee State University, and a PhD from Middle Tennessee State University.
Mitchell was a member of the history faculty at Fisk University in 1980. He also worked as an adjunct professor at St. Francis and Vanderbilt University. Mitchell held several administrative posts at Fisk, including Director of Institutional Advancement, Executive Assistant to the President, and Dean of Academic Affairs. Mitchell had a wife, Dr. Patricia W. Mitchell, and four sons, Reavis L. Mitchell III, Roland W. Mitchell, Reagan P. Mitchell, and Roman B.W. Mitchell.
He resided in Brentwood, Tennessee, and attended St. Vincent de Paul Church, a Catholic church in North Nashville. Mitchell was the dean of the School of Humanities and Behavioral Social Sciences and professor of history at Fisk University. He was also the chairman of the Tennessee Historical Commission from 2015 to 2020 and the executive vice president of the Tennessee Historical Society.
Reavis Mitchell Jr. died on June 16, 2020, in Brentwood at the age of 72. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery. Dr. Mitchell's life was honored at the 2021 Nashville Conference on African American History and Culture in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference produced his profile as part of the 2021 conference proceedings.
