UFW marks induction of legendary community organizer Fred Ross into California Hall of Fame
5-7 p.m. public viewing Wednesday, Oct. 1 at California Museum
Sacramento, Calif.—Celebrating the induction by Gov. Jerry Brown and First Lady Anne Gust Brown of legendary community organizer Fred Ross into the California Hall of Fame will be the United Farm Workers of America. UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez joins Fred Ross Jr. and other Ross family members at ceremonies marking the induction of the 8th class of the Hall of Fame at the California Museum at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2004.
Members of the public are invited to view the arrivals of inductees and ceremony attendees from 5 to 7 p.m. in a public-viewing area located in front of the museum at 10th and “O” streets in Sacramento. Immediately following the viewing of arrivals, a live webcast of the induction ceremony will be streamed on the museum’s website at http://www.CaliforniaMuseum.org starting at 7 p.m.
Fred Ross’ remarkable career spanned seven decades from the 1930s when he ran the federal migratory labor camp immortalized in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Ross discovered and trained Cesar Chavez in 1952, while setting up a chapter of the Community Service Organization in East San Jose. Together they turned CSO into the most effective and militant Latino civil rights organization of its day. Chavez quit CSO in 1962 to begin what would become the UFW, which Ross joined full time in 1966. He continued training UFW organizers for decades. Ross wrote and the UFW published the book Conquering Goliath, about Chavez’s first organizing effort among farm workers in 1958-59 in Ventura County.
WHO: Gov. Jerry Brown, First Lady Anne Gust Brown, UFW’s Arturo Rodriguez, Fred Ross Jr.
WHAT: Induction of legendary community organizer Fred Ross into the Hall of Fame.
WHEN: 5-7 p.m. public viewing; 7 p.m. ceremony, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014.
WHERE: The California Museum, 10th & “O” streets, Sacramento 95818.
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