Fred Ross (community organizer) facts for kids

Fred Ross (1910 – 1992) was an American community organizer. This means he helped groups of people work together to make their communities better. He started the Community Service Organization (CSO) in 1948. This group helped Mexican Americans in California get organized and speak up for their rights.

Ross was a very important mentor. He trained many future leaders, including a young man named Cesar Chavez. Chavez later used what he learned from Ross to start the famous United Farm Workers union. Ross also trained Dolores Huerta, another key leader in community organizing.

Ross worked with Edward Roybal and other Mexican-Americans to create the CSO in East Los Angeles. Roybal became the first president of this group. This CSO chapter became very active in politics. They helped elect Roybal to the City Council of Los Angeles in 1949. He was the first Mexican-American to serve on the council since the 1800s!

Early Life and Work

Fred Ross Sr. was born in San Francisco in 1910. He studied at the University of Southern California. After graduating in 1936, he wanted to be a teacher. But it was during the Great Depression, a time when many people couldn't find jobs.

In 1937, Ross found work helping people for the state government. Later, he worked for the Farm Security Administration. This group helped people living in farm areas, like the Coachella Valley.

Helping Farm Workers

You might have heard of John Steinbeck's book, The Grapes of Wrath. It tells the story of a family of migrant workers looking for jobs in California. Steinbeck described a labor camp in Arvin. Fred Ross Sr. was put in charge of this very camp shortly after Steinbeck visited.

Ross was later promoted to manage about 25 similar camps across California and Arizona. In these camps, he saw how poor the workers were and how bad their working conditions were. He felt a strong desire to help them. He earned their trust and helped them set up their own ways of self-government. This allowed the workers to unite and fight for better conditions. He encouraged them to speak up, even if it was scary to challenge powerful people.

Fighting for Equal Rights

After World War II, Ross worked for the American Council of Race Relations. Their goal was to bring people together and stop conflicts between different racial groups. Ross started "Civic Unity Leagues" in California. These groups brought Mexican- and Black Americans together to fight against segregation. Segregation was when people of different races were kept separate, like in schools or public places.

In Orange County, parents organized by Ross won an important lawsuit in 1947. This case, called Mendez v. Westminster School District, helped end segregation in schools. It also helped pave the way for the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, which made segregation illegal across the country.

Ross's organizing work caught the attention of Saul Alinsky, a well-known organizer. In 1947, Alinsky hired Ross to organize Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles. Ross worked in Southern California for six years. Then, he moved to San Jose, which was a big center for Spanish-speaking people outside of Los Angeles.

Making a Difference with Voting

Ross worked on getting people to register to vote in Riverside County. In a town called Belltown, there was a problem with segregated schools. Mexican and African-American children went to one school, while white children were bused to another. There was a plan to raise money to fix the white school, but no money for the other school.

The local city council representative for the mainly Hispanic area refused to listen to their problems. Ross, along with workers from the NAACP, helped people in this area register to vote. They united the Hispanic community to vote against the representative in the city council election. Eventually, Belltown integrated its schools, meaning all children could go to the same schools.

After this success, Ross truly believed in his way of organizing. From then on, Ross and the CSO always focused on two main programs: helping people register to vote and teaching citizenship classes.

The House-Meeting Method

While organizing in Southern California, Ross developed a special way of meeting people. He called it the "house-meeting technique." He later taught this method to Cesar Chavez. It became a key way the UFW organized people.

Ross would hold small meetings in people's homes for about three weeks. These small meetings would build up to one large meeting to choose temporary leaders. Then, there would be more house meetings for several weeks. This would lead to another big meeting to set up a working CSO chapter. This method helped people feel comfortable and get involved step by step.

Training Future Leaders

Fred Ross Sr. trained many successful organizers during his life. The most famous ones are Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and his own son, Fred Ross Jr.

Ross met Cesar Chavez in San Jose. At first, Chavez was unsure about Ross's intentions. But soon, he saw that Ross truly wanted to help people. Chavez believed in Ross's methods. After their first house meeting, Chavez agreed to join the CSO. That night, Ross wrote in his journal, "I think I found the guy I'm looking for." Ross remained a trusted advisor to Chavez for the rest of his life, even when Chavez started his own union.

Another smart young organizer Ross recruited was Dolores Huerta. She met him in Fresno in 1955. He showed her pictures of organized workers in Los Angeles, and she knew she wanted to be part of it. She started working with CSO in Stockton, helping with community and education programs. She soon met Chavez, and they became lifelong friends and partners in organizing farmworkers. Huerta was a main organizer and leader in the UFW until 2000.

Fred Ross's son, Fred Ross Jr., followed his father's path. He became a community organizer too. He used the tactics he learned from his father and worked with both Chavez and Huerta. Ross Jr. played a big role in important events like the Active Citizenship campaign and the Gallo march for the UFW.

Ross Jr. also helped start a national organization called Neighbor to Neighbor with his father's help. It was founded in 1986. This group trained organizers to put political pressure on the government to stop military aid to certain countries in Central America. Neighbor to Neighbor used similar methods to the UFW, including house meetings. It was an important training ground for young activists in the 1980s.

Legacy

Fred Ross wrote a book called Conquering Goliath: Cesar Chavez at the Beginning. He also wrote a booklet called Axioms for Organizers.

Ross had three children: Robert, Julia, and Fred. His son Fred was named after him.

In 2014, Fred Ross was honored by being inducted into the California Hall of Fame.