Fred Brown Sr.: A Legacy of Tomorrows

During the early 1940s, African Americans migrated to Ventura County seeking employment with the U.S. military bases in the area. This influx of population brought about increased demands for housing, employment and education. However, blatant discrimination and segregation prevented access to adequate housing, meaningful employment and educational opportunity for many black Americans.

Fred Brown Sr. recognized the need for black Americans to challenge these unconscionable and intolerable practices. He was a supporter of equal rights and equal pay, a champion for fair representation in the labor force, and an advocate for all oppressed people seeking life, liberty and equal opportunity.

Today, as we celebrate Black History Month, we are enjoying the fruits of his labor. Brown, who died one year ago this week, helped open doors that were previously closed to African Americans and other minorities in Ventura County. Consequently, Ventura County has been enriched and is a better place to live because of him.

Fred Brown Sr. was born April 1, 1915, in Bossier Parish, La., 18 miles northeast of Shreveport, the second of 10 children. In 1936, he met and married his wife, Nonia Suttle. They shared 58 years of marriage, a union that produced three children, Fred Jr., Elizabeth and Geraldine.

Brown moved to California in 1942 and took a job with a Port Hueneme naval base manufacturing plant that made mortar shells during World War II. He became an active member of the Ventura County branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

In Ventura and Oxnard, where many African Americans were living, there were certain areas that were “set asides,” the only areas where black Americans were allowed to live. As president of the NAACP, Brown led the fight that challenged these and other unfair practices that restricted African Americans from acquiring housing. Under his leadership, the NAACP organized and marched from Ventura to Oxnard in April 1963 to protest housing conditions for African Americans in Ventura County.

With the exception of the U.S. military bases in the area, African Americans were severely restricted from engaging in basic and significant employment opportunities, notwithstanding the person’s qualification, experience or aptitude for the job. Employment opportunities in education, especially as school teachers, were few. Brown opposed this discrimination. He attempted to ameliorate conditions by example and by challenging the existing racist structure to change its practices. He spoke out, highlighted important issues and brought to the forefront the need to grow beyond racial, class or economic differences for the betterment of the county.

In August 1963, at his personal expense and sacrifice, Fred Brown attended the March on Washington, an event that significantly changed the landscape of the Civil Rights movement in the United States.

In 1948, Brown joined the Laborers’ Union 585. He became an assistant business agent for the local in 1959 and served as a delegate to the National Labor Convention. He was elected to a number of key positions with the union and also acted as a liaison between labor and the Ventura Unified School District on desegregation.

On Feb. 28, 1997, Fred Brown Sr. went home with the Lord. A committee representing a cross section of the county met to review his five decades of involvement in civil rights. This group--Albert Duff, Gary Windom, Earnest Brown, Artis “J.C.” Hawkins, the Rev. John Baylor, Fred Brown III, Leo Valenzuela, Daisy Cotton, Iantha Jones and myself as chair--met regularly through several months to plan a memorial celebration to apprise the county of the accomplishments of Fred Brown Sr.

On Dec. 6, 1997, the memorial celebration was held in the Board of Supervisors’ chambers, and a monument to Fred Brown Sr. was unveiled in the rose garden of the Ventura County Government Center. The site, off Victoria Avenue in Ventura, includes a tree, landscaping and an identification monument.

Our committee appreciates the support from all contributors, especially the Laborers’ Union 585, contractors and landscapers for their effort to beautify the site.

As a part of the activities celebrating Black History Month, we hope that people will go by to see this historical monument.

Fred Brown Sr. gave up many of his yesterdays so that we could have many prosperous tomorrows.