Reavis Lee Mitchell Jr. (July 12, 1947 – June 16, 2020) was an American historian and academic administrator. He was the dean of the School of Humanities and Behavioral Social Sciences and professor of history at

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

, a historically black university in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. He was the chairman of the

Tennessee Historical Commission The Tennessee Historical Commission (THC) is the State Historic Preservation Office for the U.S. state of Tennessee. Headquartered in Nashville, it is an independent state agency, administratively attached to the Department of Environment and C ...

from 2015 to 2020.

Early life and education

Mitchell was born on July 12, 1947, in

. He attended St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School and Pearl High school, and he earned a Bachelor of Arts from

, Master of Science from

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...

, and PhD from

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

Career

Mitchell began his career as a member of the history faculty at Fisk University in 1980. He also worked as an adjunct professor at the

University of St. Francis The University of St. Francis (USF) is a private Franciscan university with its main campus in Joliet, Illinois. It enrolls nearly 3,200 students at locations throughout the country with about 1,300 students at its main campus. History Early h ...

and

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

. Mitchell held several administrative posts at Fisk, including Director of Institutional Advancement, Executive Assistant to the President, and Dean of Academic Affairs. Mitchell served on the

from 2009 to his death, including as its chairman from 2015. He was also the executive vice president of the

Tennessee Historical Society The Tennessee Historical Society is a historical society for the U.S. state of Tennessee. It was established in 1849. Its founding president from 1849 to 1856 was Nathaniel Cross, a Princeton University, Princeton-educated professor of Ancient Lang ...

Death

Mitchell 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
profile
on him as part of the 2021 conference proceedings.

Personal life

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 Brentwood is a city in Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 45,373 as of the 2020 United States census.Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church in North Nashville.

Works

References

1947 births 2020 deaths People from Brentwood, Tennessee Fisk University alumni Tennessee State University alumni Middle Tennessee State University alumni Fisk University faculty Place of birth missing Place of death missing African-American historians American university and college faculty deans Historians from Tennessee 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers African-American Catholics 20th-century American male writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American male writers {{US-academic-administrator-1940s-stub