Fred Ross
Encyclopedia
Fred Ross was an American
community organizer. He founded the Community Service Organization
(CSO) in 1948, which, with the support of the Industrial Areas Foundation
, organized Mexican American
s in California
. The CSO in San Jose, CA gave a young Cesar Chavez
his first training in organizing, which he would later use in founding the United Farm Workers
. Ross also trained the young Dolores Huerta
in community organizing
.
Ross worked with Edward Roybal and other Mexican-Americans to form the CSO in East Los Angeles, and Roybal became its first President. This chapter of the CSO became politically active and help to elect Roybal to the City Council of Los Angeles
in 1949, the first Mexican-American to serve as such since the 19th century.
in 1936. However, because of the Great Depression
, he could not find employment. In 1937, Ross received a position with the state relief administration doing social work
. After quitting his caseworker job, Ross worked for the Farm Security Administration
, which was in charge of relief program in the Coachella Valley
.
’s famous novel, The Grapes of Wrath
, Steinbeck describes the journey and tribulations of the Joad family, a group of migrant workers looking for work in California
. He describes a labor camp that was based on a real camp in Arvin
. Fred Ross Sr. was placed in charge of this camp shortly after Steinbeck left the area. Ross was later promoted to cover about 25 camps similar to this one all over California and Arizona
. In the camps, Ross saw the poverty and poor working conditions experienced by the workers. He found in his heart the desire to organize, and he did so by earning the trust of the workers and beginning a form of self-government in the camp so that the workers could band together to fight to improve their conditions. He encouraged them to speak up and be heard, despite the fear of confrontation with power holders.
After the war, Ross worked for the American Council of Race Relations, whose goal was to “create unity, and end the riots…between whites and minorities.” Ross began organizing and obtained the interest of Saul Alinsky
, a well known organizer and head of the Industrial Areas Foundation
. In September 1947, Alinsky hired Ross to organize Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles
. He organized in Southern California for 6 years before moving on to San Jose
, which was the largest Spanish center outside of Los Angeles.
, where there was a segregation problem in the public schools. The Mexican and African-American children were all attending one school and the Anglo
children were picked up by a bus and taken to another school. There was a bond election to provide funding to fix the predominantly Anglo school, but there was to be no money spent on the other school. The mainly Hispanic area was the Casa Blanca barrio, but their city council representative was an orange grower that refused to visit the people and address their grievances because of previous worker strikes against him. Ross, alongside numerous NAACP workers, registered voters in this area and unified the Hispanic community to vote against the orange grower in the city council election. Belltown eventually integrated the schools and the bonds passed. After this experience, Ross began to believe in the success of his type of organization. From then on, Ross and the CSO established two broad-based programs wherever they went – voter registration and citizenship classes.
that Ross developed the house-meeting technique that he would soon teach to Cesar Chavez
; it would become the hallmark tactic of the UFW. Although many sources state Saul Alinsky trained Ross and Chavez Ross claims it is not true. He says, “I’d been at it over a year before I met him.” The house-meeting technique involved about a three week period in which Ross would hold small house meetings to build up to one large organizing meeting to set up temporary officers. Then there would be more house-meetings for several more weeks to lead up to another larger meeting to set up a working CSO chapter.
, Dolores Huerta
, and his son, Fred Ross Jr. Ross recruited Cesar while he was in San Jose; at first when Ross Sr. visited Chavez at his home, he was doubtful of his intentions. However, he soon saw that Ross was a man whose life calling was to help people in need. Chavez believed in Ross’s technique and after their first house meeting, he accepted Ross’s offer to join the CSO. That night, Ross wrote in his journal, “I think I found the guy I’m looking for.” Ross continued to be an advisor and confidant to Chavez for the remainder of his life even when Chavez split from the CSO and began his own union.
Another young and intelligent organizer that Ross recruited was Dolores Huerta
. She met him in Fresno
in 1955. He showed her pictures of mobilized workers in Los Angeles and she knew she wanted to be a part of this organization. She began working with CSO in Stockton
, helping run civic and educational programs. She soon met Chavez and so began their life-long friendship and coalition to organize farmworkers. When Chavez decided to form his own union, the UFW, Huerta was shocked. However, “when the initial shock wore off, I thought it was exciting,” said Huerta. Huerta would be a main organizer and leader in the UFW until the late 1980s.
Fred Ross’s son, Fred Ross Jr., followed in his footsteps by becoming a community organizer. He retained the tactics learned from his father and worked alongside both Chavez and Huerta. Ross Jr. played a large role in the Active Citizenship campaign, Gallo march, Salvadorian coffee boycott, and other UFW events. Ross Jr.’s legacy remains in the national organization he began with the help of his father, Neighbor to Neighbor. Neighbor to Neighbor was founded in 1986 to recruit and train organizers to put political pressure on Congress to stop U.S. military aid to right wing forces in Central America
. Neighbor to Neighbor employed similar techniques to the UFW and provided a vital training ground for young activists to become the key organizers in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Ross had three children, Robert, Julia, and Fred. Fred was named after his father.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
community organizer. He founded the Community Service Organization
Community Service Organization
The Community Service Organization was an important California Latino civil rights organization, most famous for training Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta...
(CSO) in 1948, which, with the support of the Industrial Areas Foundation
Industrial Areas Foundation
The Industrial Areas Foundation is a national community organizing network established in 1940 by Saul Alinsky. IAF provides training and consultation, furnishes organizers, and develops national strategy for its affiliated broad-based community organizations. There are currently 57 IAF...
, organized Mexican American
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
s in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The CSO in San Jose, CA gave a young Cesar Chavez
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
his first training in organizing, which he would later use in founding the United Farm Workers
United Farm Workers
The United Farm Workers of America is a labor union created from the merging of two groups, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee led by Filipino organizer Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association led by César Chávez...
. Ross also trained the young Dolores Huerta
Dolores Huerta
Dolores C. Huerta is the co-founder and First Vice President Emeritus of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO , and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Early life:...
in community organizing
Community organizing
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence...
.
Ross worked with Edward Roybal and other Mexican-Americans to form the CSO in East Los Angeles, and Roybal became its first President. This chapter of the CSO became politically active and help to elect Roybal to the City Council of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1949, the first Mexican-American to serve as such since the 19th century.
Background
Fred Ross Sr. was born in San Francisco in 1910. He started out with a general secondary teaching credential from the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in 1936. However, because of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, he could not find employment. In 1937, Ross received a position with the state relief administration doing social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
. After quitting his caseworker job, Ross worked for the Farm Security Administration
Farm Security Administration
Initially created as the Resettlement Administration in 1935 as part of the New Deal in the United States, the Farm Security Administration was an effort during the Depression to combat American rural poverty...
, which was in charge of relief program in the Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the saltwater Salton Sea, the largest lake in California...
.
Experience in Organizing
In John SteinbeckJohn Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
’s famous novel, The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
, Steinbeck describes the journey and tribulations of the Joad family, a group of migrant workers looking for work in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He describes a labor camp that was based on a real camp in Arvin
Arvin, California
Arvin is a city in Kern County, in the United States. Arvin is located southeast of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 449 feet . As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,304, up from 12,956 at the 2000 census....
. Fred Ross Sr. was placed in charge of this camp shortly after Steinbeck left the area. Ross was later promoted to cover about 25 camps similar to this one all over California and Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. In the camps, Ross saw the poverty and poor working conditions experienced by the workers. He found in his heart the desire to organize, and he did so by earning the trust of the workers and beginning a form of self-government in the camp so that the workers could band together to fight to improve their conditions. He encouraged them to speak up and be heard, despite the fear of confrontation with power holders.
After the war, Ross worked for the American Council of Race Relations, whose goal was to “create unity, and end the riots…between whites and minorities.” Ross began organizing and obtained the interest of Saul Alinsky
Saul Alinsky
Saul David Alinsky was a Jewish American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing, and has been compared in Playboy magazine to Thomas Paine as being "one of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left." He is often noted...
, a well known organizer and head of the Industrial Areas Foundation
Industrial Areas Foundation
The Industrial Areas Foundation is a national community organizing network established in 1940 by Saul Alinsky. IAF provides training and consultation, furnishes organizers, and develops national strategy for its affiliated broad-based community organizations. There are currently 57 IAF...
. In September 1947, Alinsky hired Ross to organize Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. He organized in Southern California for 6 years before moving on to San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, which was the largest Spanish center outside of Los Angeles.
Voter registration
Ross worked on voter registration in Riverside County, in the town of BelltownBelltown, California
Belltown is an unincorporated community in Riverside County, California. It lies at an elevation of 840 feet . Belltown is located north of Riverside....
, where there was a segregation problem in the public schools. The Mexican and African-American children were all attending one school and the Anglo
Anglo
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England or the English people, as in the terms Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-American, Anglo-Celtic, Anglo-African and Anglo-Indian. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in The Americas, Australia and...
children were picked up by a bus and taken to another school. There was a bond election to provide funding to fix the predominantly Anglo school, but there was to be no money spent on the other school. The mainly Hispanic area was the Casa Blanca barrio, but their city council representative was an orange grower that refused to visit the people and address their grievances because of previous worker strikes against him. Ross, alongside numerous NAACP workers, registered voters in this area and unified the Hispanic community to vote against the orange grower in the city council election. Belltown eventually integrated the schools and the bonds passed. After this experience, Ross began to believe in the success of his type of organization. From then on, Ross and the CSO established two broad-based programs wherever they went – voter registration and citizenship classes.
House-Meeting Organizing
It was during his organizing in Southern CaliforniaSouthern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
that Ross developed the house-meeting technique that he would soon teach to Cesar Chavez
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
; it would become the hallmark tactic of the UFW. Although many sources state Saul Alinsky trained Ross and Chavez Ross claims it is not true. He says, “I’d been at it over a year before I met him.” The house-meeting technique involved about a three week period in which Ross would hold small house meetings to build up to one large organizing meeting to set up temporary officers. Then there would be more house-meetings for several more weeks to lead up to another larger meeting to set up a working CSO chapter.
Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Fred Ross Jr.
Fred Ross Sr. trained a myriad of successful organizers during his lifetime. The most renowned of these organizers are Cesar ChavezCésar Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
, Dolores Huerta
Dolores Huerta
Dolores C. Huerta is the co-founder and First Vice President Emeritus of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO , and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Early life:...
, and his son, Fred Ross Jr. Ross recruited Cesar while he was in San Jose; at first when Ross Sr. visited Chavez at his home, he was doubtful of his intentions. However, he soon saw that Ross was a man whose life calling was to help people in need. Chavez believed in Ross’s technique and after their first house meeting, he accepted Ross’s offer to join the CSO. That night, Ross wrote in his journal, “I think I found the guy I’m looking for.” Ross continued to be an advisor and confidant to Chavez for the remainder of his life even when Chavez split from the CSO and began his own union.
Another young and intelligent organizer that Ross recruited was Dolores Huerta
Dolores Huerta
Dolores C. Huerta is the co-founder and First Vice President Emeritus of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO , and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Early life:...
. She met him in Fresno
Fresno
Fresno is the fifth largest city in California.Fresno may also refer to:-Places:Colombia* Fresno, TolimaSpain* Fresno, a ghost village in Nidáliga, Valle de Sedano, Burgos* Aldea del Fresno, Madrid* Fresno de la Vega, Ribera del Esla, León...
in 1955. He showed her pictures of mobilized workers in Los Angeles and she knew she wanted to be a part of this organization. She began working with CSO in Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
, helping run civic and educational programs. She soon met Chavez and so began their life-long friendship and coalition to organize farmworkers. When Chavez decided to form his own union, the UFW, Huerta was shocked. However, “when the initial shock wore off, I thought it was exciting,” said Huerta. Huerta would be a main organizer and leader in the UFW until the late 1980s.
Fred Ross’s son, Fred Ross Jr., followed in his footsteps by becoming a community organizer. He retained the tactics learned from his father and worked alongside both Chavez and Huerta. Ross Jr. played a large role in the Active Citizenship campaign, Gallo march, Salvadorian coffee boycott, and other UFW events. Ross Jr.’s legacy remains in the national organization he began with the help of his father, Neighbor to Neighbor. Neighbor to Neighbor was founded in 1986 to recruit and train organizers to put political pressure on Congress to stop U.S. military aid to right wing forces in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
. Neighbor to Neighbor employed similar techniques to the UFW and provided a vital training ground for young activists to become the key organizers in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Other information
Ross is the author of Conquering Goliath: Cesar Chavez at the Beginning (El Taller Graphico Press; 1989 - ISBN 096252980X) and Axioms for Organizers, a booklet produced by the Neighbor to Neighbor Education Fund (San Francisco, 1989).Ross had three children, Robert, Julia, and Fred. Fred was named after his father.
External links
- A Trailblazing Organizer's Organizer, essay about Ross by Dick Meister