“I have been a Communist for most of my adult life. I joined the party when I finally decided that the economic system that controls this country not only cannot solve the problems of Black people, but actually helps to prevent such a solution.” — Charlene Mitchell Rest in Peace and Power, Charlene Mitchell (June 8, 1930 – December 14, 2022). Mitchell was an international socialist, feminist, labor and civil rights activist. In 1968, she became the first Black woman candidate for President of the United States as the member of The Communist Party. In the 1970s, she became a leader in efforts to support the defense of Angela Davis, founded the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, campaigned on behalf of the defenses of Joan Little and the Wilmington Ten, and focused her activism on anti-apartheid efforts. Mitchell joined the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) at age 16, and is considered to be one of the most influential leaders in the party in the late 1950s and the 1960s. After leaving the party, she became a leader of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS) in the 1990s. Born Charlene Alexander in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 8, 1930, she moved with her parents and seven siblings to Chicago at the age of nine. She joined the Communist Party USA at age 16, and had joined the youth branch, the American Youth for Democracy, when she was 13. Early activism by Mitchell in the 1940s included participation in a successful sit-in protest against segregated seating in a theater, with white students sitting in the "colored only" balcony and Black students sitting in the "whites only" section below. 📷Photo 1: Charlene Mitchell in 1968, when she was chosen as the Communist Party’s candidate for president. Gene Kappock/New York Daily News, via Getty Images. Photo 2: The cover of the original 1968 campaign pamphlet, “Communist Candidate Speaks on Black Liberation.” CPUSA Archives. #blackwomenradicals #charlenemitchell