Thomas W. Mitchell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Thomas W. Mitchell
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Mitchell in 2020
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| Nationality | American |
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| Awards | MacArthur Fellow |
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| Fields | Legal studies |
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Thomas Wilson Mitchell is an American law professor. He teaches law at Boston College Law School. His work focuses on property law, especially how certain laws caused many Black Americans to lose their land over the years. In 2020, he received a special award called the MacArthur Fellowship. Recently, he started a new group at Boston College Law School called the Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights. He leads this group with his wife, Professor Lisa T. Alexander.
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His Journey in Law
Thomas Mitchell went to Amherst College and earned a degree in English in 1987. After that, he studied law at the Howard University School of Law, getting his law degree in 1993. In 1999, he earned another law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. While there, he was a special student called a William H. Hastie Fellow.
In 2000, Professor Mitchell began teaching at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He became a full professor and held an important teaching position. In 2016, he moved to Texas A&M University School of Law to teach law. He also taught in the Department of Agricultural Economics. In 2022, he joined Boston College Law School. He now holds a special teaching position there. He also directs the Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights. This group helps people and communities get and keep important property rights.
Helping People Keep Their Land
Professor Mitchell's research looks at why many Black Americans lost their land. He found that after the Civil War, around 1865, Black Americans owned about 15 million acres of land in the South. But by the end of the 1900s, this amount had shrunk to only about 2 million acres.
Understanding Land Loss
Mitchell studied the legal reasons for this loss. He focused on laws about inheritance when someone dies without a will. These laws often led to land being sold, even if some family members wanted to keep it. This often happened through something called "forced partition sales." This means a court makes people sell land they own together, even if some don't want to.
This type of land loss can be seen as a leftover problem from Jim Crow laws. These were unfair laws that treated Black people differently. Professor Mitchell explains that forced sales often make the land sell for less money. He also found that minority landowners are more likely to be forced to sell their land. This system can make them lose wealth over time.
A New Law to Help
Professor Mitchell helped write a new law called the Partition of Heirs Property Act. This law aims to give families a better chance to keep land they inherited. It helps prevent forced sales when some family members want to keep the property. By October 2020, this important law had been passed in 18 states across the country.
In 2020, Professor Mitchell was given the MacArthur Fellow award. This award is sometimes called a "genius grant." It recognizes people who show extraordinary creativity and potential.
Professor Mitchell continues his research at Boston College Law School. He also works nationwide to help make laws fairer for disadvantaged communities.
His Writings
- "From Reconstruction to Deconstruction: Undermining Black Landownership, Political Independence, and Community through Partition Sales of Tenancies in Common" (2000)
- "Historic Partition Law Reform: A Game Changer for Heirs' Property Owners" (2019)
- "Destabilizing the Normalization of Rural Black Land Loss: A Critical Role for Legal Empiricism" (2005)
- "Forced Sale Risk: Class, Race, and the Double Discount" (2009)
Awards He Has Received
- MacArthur Fellows Program (2020)
- Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award (2020)
