3:45 p.m., July 9, 2009----A memorial service for renowned Delaware civil rights activist Littleton P. Mitchell, who died July 6 at age 90, will be held at 2 p.m., Tuesday, July 14, in Mitchell Hall on the University of Delaware campus in Newark.

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Mitchell, who was a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, served more than 30 years as director of the NAACP in the state and the region.

Mitchell was presented a University of Delaware Medal of Merit in September, 1993, in recognition of his contributions to human progress primarily through sustained service to others in the community, state and region.

In presenting the medal on behalf of the University's Board of Trustees, David P. Roselle, then president of UD, said, "Littleton P. Mitchell has championed the cause of civil and human rights for minorities in the state of Delaware” and served as "a lifelong advocate for desegregation in the state.”

He cited Mitchell for his "continuing commitment to improve the quality of life for the citizens of the state of Delaware and the region."

Born in Milford, Mitchell graduated from West Chester University and worked as a teacher and counselor for socially and emotionally disturbed children. He served as president and vice president of Region II of the NAACP (Maine to Delaware).

In addition to the UD Medal of Merit, Mitchell received a number of honors, including the Region II NAACP Gloster B. Currant Medal of Achievement Award, the Wilmington Branch Distinguished Service Award, the West Chester University Distinguished Achievement Award, the Mayor's Community Service Award and the Delaware State Education Association Award, and was named Outstanding Black Delawarean by Delaware State University.

His late wife, Jane E. Mitchell, a 1963 University of Delaware nursing graduate, received the University's Medal of Merit in l980 and was inducted into the UD Alumni Wall of Fame in 1998. She also served on the visiting committee of the College of Health Sciences and helped to recruit minority students for UD's nursing program. The two met while attending Howard High School in Wilmington, Del., then the only high school for African-American students in the state.

In accepting the UD Medal of Merit, Mitchell paid tribute to God, his family, friends and former teachers for shaping his life and even mentioned the truck drivers who used to picked him up each day as he hitchhiked to West Chester from Milford. He recalled a time in the early l960s when he, along with several national political leaders, was banned from speaking on the UD campus.

"To anyone who thinks the University does not change, I ask you to listen,” he said. “In the early l960s, when (I was) sometimes referred to as a radical hothead, at times I was invited to speak to classes here at the University. (A close friend called to say,) 'I have bad news; the University has decided that you are to be prohibited from speaking to any classes here on this campus. The good news is that they have also done the same thing for Sen. Hatfield, Sen. Kennedy and William F. Buckley Jr. Mitchell, you're in excellent company.'"

Mitchell said it was especially an honor to be accorded the Medal of Merit because he could "now join that one person I admire and is my role model -- Jane."

Mitchell worked at the Governor Bacon Health Center in Delaware City, starting in 1948 and continuing until his retirement. However, he was best known for his leadership as president of Delaware's NAACP during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

During those tumultuous years, Mitchell worked with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in an effort that resulted in the elimination of segregation in Delaware's hospitals; led a series of demonstrations that resulted in the desegregation of hotels in Delaware; organized efforts that ended segregation in theaters in Wilmington; led an effort that eliminated segregation at a local golf course; forced a cemetery to allow blacks to purchase burial lots; and participated in litigation which resulted in a court's striking down a discriminatory innkeeper's law.

Mitchell's efforts also compelled the integration of Delaware's volunteer fire companies, and he fought to eliminate discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system.

Mitchell's work to eliminate employment discrimination included protesting a telephone company's policy of refusing to hire blacks in any capacity and forcing the Delaware State Police to hire black officers.

Mitchell served on the Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission which was established by Congress in 2001. The commission was created to encourage the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown.