Dennis J. Mitchell was born in 1947. He lives in Lauderdale, Mississippi. From 1977 to 1980, Mitchell was assistant director of the Mississippi Humanities Council and taught at Hinds Junior College. In 1980, he began teaching at Jackson State University where he remained for almost two decades; he was acting history department chair in 1997 to 1999. Today Mitchell is professor and head of the division of Arts and Science at Mississippi State University’s Meridian campus. He served as Interim Dean at MSU-Meridian from 2001-2002 and 2011.