Juanita Jackson Mitchell’s office on Druid Hill Avenue in West Baltimore “was not just a law office, it was the command post in the fight for America and democracy,” says Rev. Alvin Hathaway Sr.
Photo: Lydia Watts, executive director of the ROAR Center, speaks at the dedication of the center's new office in West Baltimore on June 26.
The West Baltimore law office where civil rights pioneer Juanita Jackson Mitchell, JD ’50, once practiced has been dedicated as the future home of a University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) program that provides free legal and mental health services to survivors of crime.
Officials cut a ribbon and gathered with members of the Mitchell family in the city’s Upton neighborhood to mark the near completion of the restoration, which will house UMB’s Rebuild, Overcome and Rise (ROAR) Center. The June 26 event drew U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., and former U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin.
Launched by UMB in 2019, ROAR helps survivors of crime in Baltimore City recover from trauma and rebuild their lives. Its small staff of attorneys, paralegals, case managers, therapists, and nurse care managers offers free legal help, therapy, and other support through a community-based approach that the center describes as an alternative to aggressive policing and incarceration.
Bill Joyner, JD, MSW, UMB’s assistant vice president for community engagement and partnerships, said the project is “an exciting opportunity for UMB to demonstrate its longstanding commitment to the community in Baltimore City, especially in West Baltimore. ROAR continues that essential tradition of empowering the residents of Baltimore City through the provision of free legal services and other support to those directly impacted by crime."
Mitchell was the first Black woman to attend the University of Maryland’s law school and the first to practice law in the state. She led voter registration drives and civil rights protests and represented clients from the Druid Hill Avenue office who could not otherwise afford an attorney.
The building was more than a workplace, said the Rev. Alvin Hathaway Sr., who leads Beloved Community Services Corporation, the nonprofit restoring the property.
“Juanita Jackson Mitchell, the first Black woman to practice law in Maryland, worked here. Her husband, Clarence Mitchell Jr., the 101st senator, worked here,” Hathaway said. “This was not just a law office. It was the command post in the fight for America and democracy.”
Lydia Watts, JD, ROAR’s executive director, said she and Hathaway pledged in 2022 to save the deteriorating building and transform it into the center’s permanent home. Locating ROAR in Mitchell’s former office, she said, means the center is “building upon her legacy” of “standing up for those who needed an advocate, fighting for fairness and justice, and expanding opportunity for all.
“For the past seven years, ROAR has stood alongside survivors of crime, violence, and other harms throughout Baltimore City,” Watts added, describing work that has helped hundreds of individuals and families navigate housing crises, violent injuries, and the aftermath of abuse.
Once final work is finished, ROAR will begin serving clients from the building where Mitchell once did the same.