University of California, Santa Barbara

Davidson Library

Department of Special Collections

California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives

 

 

GUIDE TO THE

HORACE JAMES MCMILLAN PAPERS,

1946-1988

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Collection Number:  CEMA 7.   Size Collection:  3 linear feet (6 boxes).   Acquisition Information:  Donated by Horace James McMillan, November 1993.    Access restrictions: None.   Use Restriction: Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB.  All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections.  Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to    include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.    Processing Information:  Salvador Guerena, Zuoyue Wang. December, 1996.   Location:  Del Norte

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Biographical Sketch

 

Horace James McMillan was the first African American physician practicing in the Santa Barbara, California, area in 1952.  A tireless leader in the fight for civil rights, McMillan has made indelible marks in the community.  As a local political activist at the front-line of the struggle for civil rights, McMillan’s experience provides an invaluable and fascinating window to examine the evolution of American race relations, the tactics and strategies employed in the civil rights movement, and the real effects of federal civil rights policies at the level of local implementation. 

 

McMillan was born on October 30, 1919 in Dallas, Texas. He served in the US Coast Guard from 1942-46 as the first African American pharmacist mate in the history of the Coast Guard.  McMillan received his medical credentials from Maharry Medical College in 1950 and he did his postgraduate work at St. Louis University and at UCLA. He practiced medicine in Santa Barbara since 1952 as a physician and a cofounder of the Family Medical Center.  McMillan encountered and fought against racism throughout his career. His commitment to racial justice and equality pre-dated the Civil Rights Movement.  In 1953, for example, he confronted racism at St. Francis Hospital of Santa Barbara and was responsible for the discontinuance of segregating African American and Anglo patients.

 

McMillan was instrumental in establishing various community institutions and programs which have contributed to a better quality of life for all residents; among these are the Goleta Valley Community Hospital (GVCH) and Professional Building (he was one of a group of eight physicians forming the Physicians' Investment Corporation that founded GVCH and for which he served as Vice President and later was Founding Director of the GVCH), the Franklin Neighborhood Service Center, the Community Health Task Force's Zona Seca, the Human Relations Commission, as well as the Urban Renewal and Redevelopment Commission.

 

As a community leader and civil rights advocate, he was a champion for affordable housing for low income and minority people and was a primary mover in improving the quality of life in health services, housing, employment and education in the Santa Barbara community.

 

He held various offices where he made a major impact, including serving as the first Chair of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Human Relations (1967), Chair of the Community Health Task Force (1973-81), Chair of the Housing Committee for the Santa Barbara branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1961), and as a member of the Santa Barbara Committee for Due Process (1969).

 

McMillan has garnered much recognition for his many contributions, for example, he was honored in 1971 by the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce for distinguished service in helping to provide the community with an outstanding health resource--the Goleta Valley Community Hospital.  In 1991 he was the recipient of the Santa Barbara News Press Lifetime Achievement Award; in 1988 he received a certificate of recognition from the California Legislative Assembly for 35 years of service to the community of Santa Barbara.  In 1986 he received the African American Community Center award "for helping us to realize the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr."

 

The McMillan Papers in CEMA consists of correspondence files, notes, addresses and speeches to the Santa Barbara City Council, meeting agendas and minutes, motion picture film and newspaper clippings that cover the issues of racism, housing, and urban social problems.  A fairly detailed and useful oral history interview with McMillan, with transcripts, is in CEMA’s Santa Barbara African American Oral History Collections.  The interview was conducted by Ranford Hopkins in 1988-1989.

 

SCOPE NOTE

 

The Horace J. McMillan Papers consists of nine series distributed in six archival boxes.  Correspondence, reports, and newspaper clippings make up the bulk of the collection.  Together with the McMillan oral history interview in CEMA’s Santa Barbara African American Oral History Collections, these papers document McMillan’s education and career as a physician and his fights against racism and for civil rights. 

 

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

 

Biographical and Personal Information series consists of two folders.  They contain a family tree of the McMillans, newspaper articles about him and his family, typed notes of incidents of discrimination when he applied to medical school, and other materials related to him.

 

Civil Rights and Civic Activities series is the largest and perhaps most important of all the series.  In it one finds the proposals McMillan wrote to the city government on the establishment of various public agencies to deal with discrimination and poverty, letters and speeches on civil rights, and materials related to his various civic activities.

 

Letters to Editors series consists of drafts and published versions of McMillan’s many letters to newspapers regarding civil rights issues.

 

Newspaper Clippings series is a compilation of the extensive, though not systematic, collection of newspaper articles, especially from the Los Angeles Times and Santa Barbara News-Press, on civil rights-related issues.

 

Writings and Speeches series includes drafts of unpublished writings and speeches.

 

Subject Files series contains brochures, directories and other materials that McMillan collected for reference.

 

Photographs series consists of original and reproduced photographs of McMillan and family.

 

Correspondence series contains letters to and from McMillan on various topics not covered elsewhere in the collection.

 

Audio/Video Material series contains a film of super 8mm format on the subject of Santa Barbara and an interview done with Mcmillan for the Santa Barbara Afro-American Oral History Project 11 audio cassettes.

Container List

Box            Folder       Contents

                               Biographical and Personal Information

1           1                              Biographical Information, 1946-1988

1           2                              Martin Luther King Award, 1986

 

                                      Civil Rights and Civic Activities

1           3                              Health Maintenance Organization Proposal, 1973

1           4                              Housing, 1966-1968

1           5                              Information Center Material, 1967

1           6                              Letters and Reports, 1965-1968

1           7                              Proposal for a Human Resource Center for Santa Barbara, 1968

2           1                              Santa Barbara Citizens' Advisory Committee on Housing and Urban

Improvement, 1967-1968

2           2-4                          Santa Barbara Citizens' Information Committee on Economic Opportunity, 1966

2           5                              Santa Barbara City Housing Authority, 1969

2           6                              Santa Barbara Community Health Task Force, 1974

2           7-12                        Santa Barbara Mayor's Advisory Committee on Human Relations, 1967-1968

3           1                              Santa Barbara Mayor's Advisory Committee on Human Relations, 1967-1968

3           2                              Santa Barbara Westside Neighborhood Council, 1969

3           3                              UCSB Chancellor's Special Committee On Social–Political Grievances, 1969

3           4                              Urban Renewal, 1958-1967

3           5                              Workable Program for Community Improvement, 1967

 

                                Letters to Editors

3           6-7                          General, 1966-1990

4           1                              General, 1966-1990

4           2                              Race and Housing, 1961-1963

4           3                              Casandra Young Story, 1968

 

                              Newspaper Clippings

4           4                              Anti-Poverty, 1966-1969

4           5-7                          Civil Rights, 1966-1992

4           8                              Elks Lodge Controversy, 1989-1990

 

5           1                              Ethnic Issues, 1989

5           2                              General, 1984-1988

5           3                              Hope Ranch Racial Query, 1968

5           4                              Housing, 1963-1968

5           5                              Reagan Administration, 1981-1988

5           6                              Santa Barbara City Governmental Offices, 1966-1974

 

                              Writings & Speeches

5           7                              Drafts of Letters and Speeches, 1968-1989

6           1                              Martin Luther King Day Speech, 1986

6           2                              Notes on Watergate, 1970

6           3                              Trinity Lutheran Church Speech, 1968

6           4                              "What One Should Know," 1968

 

                         Subject File

6           5                              Directory of Santa Barbara Health, Education, and Welfare Resources, 1967

6           6                              Goleta Valley Community Hospital, 1991
6           7                              Health Maintenance Organization, 1967
6           8                              Human Resources Names, 1968

6           9                              Resume of Lemmon McMillan, Jr., 1968

6           10                            Santa Barbara City Government & Social Services Directories, 1967

6           11                            Santa Barbara Community Service Center, 1966-69

6           12                            UCSB Educational Opportunity Program, 1988

 

                              Correspondence

6           13                            Miscellaneous, 1967-1982

6           14                            Outgoing, 1967-1990

6           15                            Santa Barbara Health Services, 1975-1976

 

                                Photographs

6           16                            Photographs and Negatives, n.d.

 

                                Audio/Video Material

Film Can: 0545                   Super 8 mm film "Santa Barbara...," 1957-1958

 

 

                                Interview sessions with Ranford Hopkins for the Santa Barbara Afro-American Oral

History Project, 1988.

A4604/CS                    Tape 1 Session 1

A4605/CS                    Tape 2 Session 2

A4606/CS                    Tape 2 Session 2b

A4607/CS                    Tape 2 Session 2b

A4608/CS                    Tape 2 Tape 3

A4609/CS                    Tape 3 Session 3

A4610/CS                    Tape 3 Session 3

A4611/CS                    Tape 3 Session 4

A4612/CS                    Tape 3 Session 5

A4613/CS                    Tape 3 Session 7

A4614/CS                    Tape 3 Session 9