LONG BEACH — On April 7, Rep. Janice Hahn hosted a special ceremony renaming the North Long Beach Post Office for the late Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald.
She was joined by Millender-McDonald’s widower, James McDonald Jr., her daughter Valerie McDonald and several prominent elected officials.
The renaming of the facility at 101 E. Market St. is the result of legislation introduced by Hahn which passed Congress in December 2014. Hahn unveiled a plaque honoring Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald alongside Millender-McDonald’s widower and daughter. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA-47), former Rep. Diane Watson and Long Beach Councilmen Al Austin and Rex Richardson also spoke at the event.
For all her accomplishments, Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald’s political career started relatively late in her life. By age 26, she was a mother of five. After raising her children, she went back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in her 40s. She became a teacher in LAUSD and later the manuscript editor for Images, a textbook aimed at promoting the self-esteem of young women, and the director of gender equity programs for the school district.
Juanita Millender-McDonald made history by becoming, in 1990, the first African-American woman on the Carson City Council, and in 2007, she became the first African-American woman to chair a congressional committee — the House Administration Committee. She served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Small Business Committee, the two committees on which Congresswoman Hahn serves.
Congresswoman Millender-McDonald succumbed to cancer in April 2007, just a week after requesting a leave of absence from the House of Representatives.