Frederick Audley Mitchell Jr. (born 5 October 1953) is a Bahamian

Progressive Liberal Party The Progressive Liberal Party (abbreviated PLP) is a populist and social liberal party in the Bahamas. Philip Davis is the leader of the party. History The PLP was founded in 1953 by William Cartwright, Cyril Stevenson, and Henry Milton Tay ...

politician serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs for the third time. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fox Hill, first elected in 2002 and then again in 2021. He also served two terms in the Senate.

Early life and education

Mitchell was born in

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

, the eldest son of Lilla (née Forde) and Frederick A. Mitchell Sr. His maternal grandfather was Barbadian. He attended Eastern Junior School, Sands School, and St. Augustine's College. He received his communications degree at

Antioch University Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. Founded in 1852 as Antioch College, its first president was politician, abolitionist, and education reformer Horace Mann. It changed its n ...

, his master's at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and his law degree at the

University of Buckingham , mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings , established = 1973; as university college1983; as university , type = Private , endowment = , administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support , chance ...

Career

Mitchell was called to both the

Bar of England and Wales Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

and the Bar of the Bahamas. He worked in broadcasting and journalism. Mitchell began his political career as a senator appointed by

Free National Movement The Free National Movement (abbreviated FNM) is a political party in The Bahamas formed in the early 1970s, led by Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield. The current leader of the party is Michael Pintard and his deputy Peter Turnquest. It dominated the ...

Prime Minister

Hubert Ingraham The Right Honourable Hubert Alexander Ingraham, PC (born 4 August 1947) is a Bahamian politician who was Prime Minister of the Bahamas from August 1992 to May 2002 and again from May 2007 to May 2012. He is a member of the Free National Moveme ...

in 1992. In the Senate, he was chairman of the Select Committee on Culture. He joined the

and ran for the Fox Hill constituency in the 1997 general election. He tried again in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and was elected to the Assembly. He worked as editor of ''The Herald'', a paper of the PLP and had a column in ''The Bahamas Uncensored''. Mitchell served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in both

Perry Christie Perry Gladstone Christie PC, MP (born 21 August 1943) is a Bahamian former politician who served as Prime Minister of the Bahamas from 2002 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2017. He is the second longest-serving Bahamian elected parliamentarian (beh ...

governments. He chaired the CARICOM Council for Foreign and Community Relations and supported

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

becoming a member state. He was a founding member of the Bahamas Committee on Southern Africa. Mitchell lost his seat in the 2017 general election. Whilst out of the Assembly, he returned to the Senate as an opposition leader and PLP chairman. He regained Fox Hill in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

and was sworn back into his Foreign Minister post under Philip Davis.

Views and public image

During his time in politics, some of his peers have accused him of "catching feelings" and being "overly emotional". Mitchell has also come under criticism from socially conservative Bahamians for his support of LGBT+ rights. However he believes that he will be remembered like Nelson Mandela for his stance. Although his party had no official policy regarding the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

until 2022, he was personally against it prior to that.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Fred (Bahamas) Living people 1953 births 20th-century Bahamian lawyers Alumni of the University of Buckingham Antioch College alumni Bahamian Anglicans Bahamian people of Barbadian descent Bahamian republicans Foreign ministers of the Bahamas Government ministers of the Bahamas Harvard University alumni Members of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas Members of the Senate of the Bahamas Progressive Liberal Party politicians

Early life and education

Career

Views and public image

See also

References