Linda Jo Mitchell (LA’69) was born in Gary, Indiana, attended Toleston High School in Gary, and later went on to study the humanities at Purdue University. As an undergraduate, Mitchell was very involved in scholastic activities and was an energetic participant in the civil rights movement.

As she states, “Talk is therapeutic. Speak frankly, say what you think, and do so with a degree of honesty. If there is prejudice and bigotry, the best way to chop away at it is to recognize its existence.”

As a student, Mitchell organized a series of lectures on “The Black American” that were open to students, faculty, and local citizens for 15 weeks. She also spent 12 hours per week as a counselor to African American students at the Office of Black Student Affairs and an additional 40 hours per week involved in similar campus activities. She was the Mortar Board historian, a student senator, and was an active participant in the Gold Peppers, University Theater, and the Purdue Readers.

In 1968, Mitchell and fellow student Homer LaRue (LA’70) organized a large demonstration to protest racial inequalities. Numerous black students quietly filed across campus from Stewart Center to Hovde Hall, Purdue’s main administrative building, and symbolically laid bricks on its steps. Protestors capped the demonstration by hanging a banner that read “… Or the Fire Next Time.” The students issued a list of demands to Purdue administration including stronger efforts in recruiting black faculty and students and the establishment of a Black Cultural Center.