finley's office, paul finley in springfield, illinois, and interviewed us. later that evening, they called me and said that i had been sleblthed selected and that on weapons, i would be flying to washington, d.c. so that meant i had about, i don't know, 54 hours to get ready, to pack, to buy a suit or to say good-bye to my girlfriend and my buddies. and jay david jones escorted me to washington. we had lunch and then we went to meet mr. finley, gerald ford and les aarons. who was the -- gerald ford was mee house minority whip at the and les -- i'm sorry, les aarons was the house minority whip and gerald fold the leader. and then, after a few minutes discussing some things with them, we went into an antiroom and cameras still, video were there, probably, i don't know, able to eight of ten of them and other reporters asking questions. it was quite the whirlwind experience. i want to emphasize this was 1965. frank mitchell became the first negro ever to represent. it was a clipping from my hometown newspaper. an it was replayed from tulsa to tampa to spokane. a

with the consent of then minority leader of michigan, congressman paul finley of illinois chose mitchell for this historic assignment in 1965. as a page in the republican cloak room, he witnessed many historic moemts of the civil rights movement, including the floor debats for the voting rights act of 1965. he was later employed as a writer and editor for northwestern bell and is deputy director of communications for the illinois attorney general's office. mitchell also started his own public relations firm and served as the executive director for illinois fatherer hood initiative. so now, let me turn the program over to the panelists and we'll proceed since we're here in the capital by seniority. therefore, frank, we'll lelt you begin by making a statement. anything you'd like to share with us? nothing like seniority to make you feel young. my experience in becoming the first african american page was totally unexpected. as as you may or may not realize. i was just an average 15-year-old playing basketball, seeing my girlfriend when i could, you know. and my mother got this call that th