Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell — whose fearless voice has been a force for good in the city and its African American community for decades — will scale back her workload but still write periodically for the paper and serve as a consultant to its editorial board, the newspaper announced Wednesday.
Mitchell, 70, began working for the Sun-Times in the early 1990s, covering education and City Hall before becoming a full-time columnist and editorial board member in 1996. Since then, she’s worked tirelessly to fight discrimination, combat domestic violence, hold politicians accountable and inspire others by chronicling her battle with breast cancer.
“My career at the Sun-Times has been a dream come true,” Mitchell says. “I’m grateful to the newspaper and its readers for the 29 years that I’ve been allowed to be a voice for the voiceless, and I look forward to passing this mantle to new voices.”
Mitchell’s family was part of the Great Migration, moving from Mississippi to Chicago before Mitchell entered elementary school. An identical twin, she grew up with eight other siblings in public housing on the South Side. She graduated from Dunbar High School in 1967 and spent 20 years working as a legal secretary.
After being passed over for a promotion, Mitchell enrolled in writing courses at Columbia College. This led to her interning at the Sun-Times in 1990 and being hired after getting her journalism degree in 1991. Her journalism honors include the Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists, the Studs Terkel Award from the Chicago Media Workshop and numerous Peter Lisagor Awards from the Chicago Headline Club.
Sun-Times Interim CEO Nykia Wright praised Mitchell as a driving force behind the resurgence of the news organization.
“It has been the pleasure of my career at the Sun-Times to get to know Mary,” Wright says. “The community knows her as a storied columnist and a staunch advocate for the forgotten, the underserved and the powerless. I know her as a lover of justice and a fighter for equity and inclusion. Her voice has left a loud and audible sound throughout Chicago.”
Sun-Times Editorial Page Editor Tom McNamee sums up Mitchell’s career this way: “You grow up in Chicago, you see what’s right and wrong, and you want to cheer on the first and make right the second. For me, that has always been Mary Mitchell. She was this kid who jumped rope on the sidewalk, growing up in public housing on the South Side, and by sheer force of will and intellect and a passion for life became one of the finest journalists this town has ever known. The Sun-Times got lucky that she came our way. The city, too.”
Mitchell’s scaled-back role with the paper will begin Aug. 1. She’ll continue to attend sessions with the editorial board, the opinion arm of the newspaper. She also will write two or three columns a month.
“Mary has been talking about easing out of the daily grind for some time, and I’ve always persuaded her to stay on full time,” Sun-Times Editor-in-Chief Chris Fusco says. “I lost that battle this time around, but we’re all grateful Mary is agreeing to continue writing columns, help shape our editorial board’s opinions and be the great ambassador for our paper that she’s always been.”
An archive of Mitchell’s columns can be found at suntimes.com/authors/mary-mitchell.
