George W. F. McMechen

George W. F. McMechen (1871–1961) was a prominent African-American lawyer in Baltimore. Along with his brother-in-law William Ashbie Hawkins he was a leading advocate for African-American civil rights.

McMehen was born in Wheeling, West Virginia on October 29, 1871 to George and Mildred McMechen. He had two sisters, Ethel and Marnie. He first began his law practice in Evansville, Indiana.

In 1891, McMechen enrolled in the first class of what is now Morgan State University where he received his bachelor's degree. In 1895, he enrolled in and received a law degree from Yale Law School.

He married Anna Lee Mason of Sparta, Illinois in 1900 and they had four daughters: Mildred, Edythe, Katherine, and Georgeanna. In 1904 he moved to Baltimore and was admitted to the Maryland bar, where he ran a practice with William Ashbie Hawkins until Hawkins in 1941.The McMechen's family move in 1909 to a majority white neighborhood in northwest Baltimore prompted the passing of a law forbidding African-Americans from moving to blocks that were more than 50% white, and vice versa. The city government pioneered statutes that legally sanctioned segregation in housing.^[1]

In 1915, McMechen ran the Baltimore City Council seat for the 14th district, however, he lost. From 1921 to 1939, he was on the governing board of Morgan State University. He was also the first African-American on the board of school commissioners of Baltimore, serving from 1944 to 1950. McMechen also served as a board member of the Morgan Corporation upon the state takeover of the college in 1939. Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro III appointed him to the Advisory Committee to the Baltimore Charter Revision Committee.

McMechen retired in 1955 and died on February 22, 1961. The business and economics building at Morgan State University is named for him. There is also a combined high school/middle school in Baltimore named for him.

Sources

• Smithsonian article on his nephew Red Thunder Cloud
• Maryland government article on McMechen

References