Background
McMehen was born in Wheeling, West Virginia.
McMehen was born in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Yale Law School.
He first began his law practice in Evansville, Indiana. McMechen received his bachelor"s degree from what is now Morgan State University and a law degree from Yale Law School. In 1904 he moved to Baltimore and was admitted to the Maryland Barometer
The McMechen"s family move in 1909 to a majority white neighborhood in northwest Baltimore prompted the passing of a law forbidding African-Americans from moving to blocks that were more than 50% white, and vice versa.
The city government pioneered statutes that legally sanctioned segregation in housing. He was on the governing board of Morgan State University starting in 1921.
He was also the first African-American on the board of school commissioners of Baltimore. The business and economics building at Morgan State University is named for him.
There is also a combined high school/middle school in Baltimore named for him.