[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 12, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E32]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO MRS. JUANITA CARRERE MITCHELL FOR CELEBRATING 110 YEARS OF 
                                  LIFE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of -illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 12, 2022

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, life is precious, even 
if you live it for only a brief period of time. When you are blessed to 
live 110 years, one hundred and ten productive years, and be in 
relatively good health, good enough to talk several minutes with a 
Congressman who called your daughter to get some information, you are 
truly blessed.
  Mrs. Juanita Mitchell was born December 15, 1911 in Nestor, Louisiana 
to Acklin and Cinderella Carrere. She remembers her grandmother cooking 
and people working in the field and harvesting the crops. She describes 
her grandfather as White, and remarks his family distanced themselves 
from him after he married a black woman, her grandmother.
  Mrs. Mitchell and her family relocated to Chicago in 1919 following 
the death of her father. Her father left home going to New Orleans in 
preparation for war service. During his time in New Orleans, he took 
sick, was diagnosed with pneumonia, which became known as the plague. 
It was the loss of her father that prompted her mother to come to 
Chicago with her two girls. Mrs. Mitchell's relocation to Chicago was 
unsettling, when she came to Chicago in 1919 as race riots erupted. 
Mrs. Mitchell has vivid memories of these experiences and shares the 
events and how it felt as an 8-year-old child. She recalls hiding 
behind the piano in her uncle's home with her mother and younger 
sister. Juanita Mitchell lived through the Chicago race riots, the 
depression and segregated neighborhoods. She went on to marry and raise 
two children. Juanita Mitchell lived on 35th and Giles in Chicago. Her 
aunt and uncle, Dr. Carl White had a grocery store and his medical 
office across the street from Olivet Baptist Church.
  Mrs. Mitchell attended Sunday School and church at Olivet Baptist 
Church. She attended Drake Elementary and Hyde Park High School. She 
then went on to business school and Washburn Trade where she studied 
Tailoring. Juanita and Morant Mitchell were married May 3, 1934. They 
celebrated 50 years of marriage in 1984. Mr. Mitchell died in 1987. 
Mrs. Mitchell was always civic minded. She is a life-long Eastern Star 
and is a past worthy matron.
  In moving to Flossmoor at the age 85, she continued her community 
engagement, serving on the beautiful Action Committee for her 
subdivision and attending village and association meetings at the age 
of 110 years old, and she continues to be a member of the ``Belles of 
Ballantrae''.
  Congratulations to Mrs. Juanita Carrere Mitchell, on living a long 
and outstanding life.
  I thank Mary for bringing her mother to our attention. Mary, John, 
and other members of the family have been truly blessed to have her 
with them for all of their lives. May she continue to live and enjoy 
life.

                          ____________________