It is with overwhelming sadness yet celebration that we share Jessie McMillan’s transition on March 8, 2025, after a long, meaningful, and full life of 101 years.
Jessie Luetta Robinson was born in Waco, Texas, one of eight siblings. At the age of 9, she moved to Dallas to live with her aunt. During the summers, even as a very little girl, she would ride alone on the train to see her family in Waco, between the cars with the porters and her bagged lunch. They took care of her. This was the “segregated section” of the train.
In 1941, she graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas. She was told that she was the valedictorian of her graduating class, but female students were not allowed to be, so a male student was valedictorian and Jessie was the salutatorian. We all know she was the valedictorian of everything she touched; we just need to ask Santa Barbarians whom she helped through massive life challenges.
She was introduced to Horace McMillan of Waco by a mutual friend while she was still in high school. He was attending Prairie View A&M University, a segregated part of the Texas system. They “courted” on his trips home, until he asked her to marry him.
At the age of 19, Jessie bravely traveled again alone on a train to New York City, where Horace was in the U.S. Coast Guard serving as a pharmacist mate. They married there in 1942, with the leery officiant thinking Jessie was way younger than 19. She and her husband moved to St. Louis while he was still in the Coast Guard, and their daughter, Yvonne, was born in 1943. After four years of Horace serving in the Coast Guard during World War II, they moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he attended Meharry Medical School and she began working on her BA at Tennessee State University. They benefited from the GI Bill, which unfortunately many Black people were unjustly denied.
After Horace’s graduation, they moved back to St. Louis, where Jessie worked as a stenographer at a local import shoe business while he completed his internship. She rode public transportation to and from work — in the back of the bus. They also lived in a completely segregated neighborhood. In 1944, she participated in a sit-in at a lunch counter in what is now Macy’s Department Store in St. Louis.
After Horace’s medical internship, they moved to Sacramento, where he did a residency and Jessie worked in a typing pool for the State of California. Jessie always said she got her “PHT,” which stands for “Pushing Husband Through.”
They decided to stay in California, assuming they could live and he could practice medicine with less discrimination. They toured several cities in California and briefly lived in Sacramento before deciding on Santa Barbara. Jessie helped him by setting up and running in his first office on Milpas Street in 1952. The building still stands.
The family attended St. Paul AME Church on a regular basis. Jessie taught Sunday school, was devoted to her church family, and led the youth group. She attended St. Paul for more than 70 years, and two ministers of St. Paul officiated at her memorial service.
Their daughter, Yvonne, attended Santa Barbara’s public schools and was the only Black student at both Washington Elementary and San Marcos High while she was there. Her parents ensured she had the finest private violin lessons and cultural education.
Jessie’s life spanned from the Great Depression, World War II, extensive discrimination, Jim Crow laws, Dr. King’s March on Washington, the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights Act, which she thought would solve much of the blatant discrimination against Black Americans. Yet, when the McMillans moved from St. Louis to Sacramento, along the way, they were not allowed to stay in hotels, so they used the Green Book and sometimes slept in their car. The Green Book was a guide for Black travelers to “friendly” businesses and hotels along various routes.
When Jessie and Horace moved to Santa Barbara, they won a court battle against the California Board of Realtors for “redlining” in Santa Barbara and politely refusing to show them houses in areas in which they wanted to live. Even though they won that case, a white woman had to buy their house because the owner would not sell to a Black family.
Regardless of all these challenges, Jessie was determined to make a difference in this community and Horace was one of the founders of the Goleta Cottage Hospital, as well as having a thriving practice and building a medical complex on Arrellega.
Jessie received her BA in social work from UCSB. She was the first African-American woman to be a social worker at the Santa Barbara County Welfare Department. In 1971, she received her MA in counseling psychology and earned a School Psychology credential at UCSB. She then worked as a school psychologist for 17 years. Jessie worked tirelessly for Children’s Services of Ventura County.
Jessie was active in the Santa Barbara League of Women Voters, The Democratic League, George Washington Carver Club, S.B. United Nations Association, and the NAACP. She was the founder of Santa Barbara’s Jack and Jill, Inc., an organization of Black mothers and their children.
She spoke numerous times to local children and classes about her life. She was an avid reader of many newspapers and periodicals, and read the Daily Word faithfully and completed the daily crossword puzzles.
She had many longtime women friends in the Relitso Club, many from church and work.
There is the painful truth that she witnessed a backward shift with the controversy over “Critical Race Theory,” the banning of books, and the war on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). Her generation sacrificed and struggled so generations to come would avoid such oppression.
Jessie has left her legacy of love, joy, integrity, and perseverance. We are all fortunate and blessed to have known and cared for her.
She is survived by one daughter, two grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren. She loved her family and friends and so appreciated their support and kindness.
Let’s celebrate her life and meet her previous struggle head-on, to make today the progressive age she hoped to leave for us all.
You must be logged in to post a comment.