Juanita Millender-McDonald was born September 7, 1938 in Birmingham, Alabama. A Democrat representing Los Angeles County’s South Bay area, she earned her BA from the University of Redlands, MA in Education from California State University, Los Angeles and her Ed.D. in Education from University of Southern California. She enjoyed an extensive political career in Democratic Party politics, serving at the municipal, state, and federal levels in addition to volunteering for several political campaigns of prominent Democratic candidates. Shortly after her election to the Carson City Council in 1990, McDonald ran for and was elected to serve the 55th Assembly District in the California State Legislature. Her Assembly legislative agenda focused on education, housing, community development and transportation. She passed legislation to speed land acquisition and acquire railroad right-of-ways for the Alameda Corridor fast-freight rail train project. Due to the resignation of Congressman Walter Tucker (D-37th District), Millender-McDonald decided to run for and won a special election in 1996. She served for 10 years in Congress. She died April 22, 2007, at the age of 69.