Ben F. Gross (1921 – August 13, 2012) was an American politician, union leader, and civil right activist who was the first
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
to serve as mayor of
Milpitas and the first African-American mayor to lead a predominantly white city in California.
Biography
Gross was born in 1921 in
McGehee, Arkansas during the
Jim Crow era.
He is a graduate of
Lake Village High School in
Lake Village, Arkansas
Lake Village is a city in and the county seat of Chicot County, Arkansas, Chicot County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,575 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is located in the Arkansas Delta. Lake Village is name ...
where he helped to organize protests against segregation.
[ In 1948, he joined the U.S. Army and in 1949, he moved to ]Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 3, 1905, and has a Richmond, California, City Council, city council. where he worked at the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...
plant.[ In 1950, he became the first African American elected to local union's (local 560) bargaining committee.][ In 1954, he was named the union's housing committee chairman and after Ford moved the plant to Milpitas in 1955, he developed Sunnyhills, one of the earliest integrated communities in California.][ In 1961, he was elected to the Milpitas City Council and on April 19, 1966, he was appointed mayor, the first African-American to be elected to a predominantly white city in California (In 1960, Milpitas was 94% white).][ While mayor, he aggressively resisted efforts by neighboring San Jose to annex Milpitas.][ He was named chairman of Local 560’s civil rights committee and participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963), the ]Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three Demonstration (protest), protest marches, held in 1965, along the highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery. The marches were organized by Nonviolence, nonvi ...
(1965), and the Poor People's March to Washington (1969).[ In 1971, he moved to Detroit where he served as the Assistant Director of the Civil Rights Department for the UAW.][ He retired in 1986 but continued to serve as an arbitrator.]Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
on August 13, 2012.[
]
See also
* List of first African-American mayors
* African American mayors in California
References
1921 births
2012 deaths
African-American mayors in California
20th-century African-American people
{{California-mayor-stub