Emil Freed (June 25, 1901 - December 4, 1982) was a political activist and founder of the

Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research is an archive, library, and community organization in Los Angeles, California, which documents the history of radicalism and progressive movements in Southern California. It was found ...

, an archive in

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Career

Emil Freed was born as Emanuel Rosenberg in New York on June 25, 1901. His mother, Rose Palevsky, came from Brest-Litovsk (then in Russia). She married Abraham Rosenberg on August 20, 1900, and had two children, Emmanuel and Dorothy. She then married Morris Freed on November 12, 1909. The Freeds moved to Los Angeles in September 1910, where they changed the children's names to Emil Freed and Dorothy Freed. He attended

Manual Arts High School Manual Arts High School is a secondary public school in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Manual Arts High School was founded in 1910 in the middle of bean fields, one-half mile from the nearest bus stop. It was the third high sc ...

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(from which he graduated in 1917). In 1923, he received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. He worked for the QRS Electric Sign Company until 1928. Then, he opened his own shop, the National Electric Sign Company, which sold and serviced

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s (which became widely used in the 1920s) for more than a decade. He then worked as a machinist for the Gillette Machine and Tool Company in Hollywood until termination in June 1942. He continued to work as a tool designer, planner, and teacher. In August 1942, he asked to serve in the Volunteer Officer's Corp of the

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(SSS) as a machinist. The SSS rejected him on December 5, 1942, due to his age (SSS had a maximum age of 32 years).

Political activism

Freed joined the Communist Party in 1929 He ran for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

on the Communist ticket in 1940. At the founding of the

Civil Rights Congress The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) was a United States civil rights organization, formed in 1946 at a national conference for radicals and disbanded in 1956. It succeeded the International Labor Defense, the National Federation for Constitutional L ...

in 1946, he served as organization secretary in Los Angeles. For his part in the Hollywood Studio Strike (aka

Hollywood Black Friday Hollywood Black Friday, or Hollywood Bloody Friday, is the name given, in the history of organized labor in the United States, to October 5, 1945. On that date, a six-month strike by the set decorators represented by the Conference of Studio U ...

) of 1945-1946, Freed was arrested on November 16, 1946. He was found guilty on three counts: failure to obey a court order, refusal to disperse, and disturbing the peace. He received six months on each count to be served concurrently. He was taken to Lincoln Heights Jail on December 13, 1948, and released after 10 months. (This eventually led to his expulsion from the

International Association of Machinists The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is an AFL–CIO/ CLC trade union representing over 600,000 workers as of 2024 in more than 200 industries with most of its membership in the United States and Canada. Origi ...

(IAM) Local #311.) In 1953,

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by ''Time (magazine), Time'' in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for h ...

was questioned before the

Committee on Un-American Activities The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty an ...

about her support of Freed's candidacy in 1940. She denied knowing anything about it. During the 1960s, he continued his activism, speaking on the 1968 presidential election, War on Poverty, U.S. economy, and U.S. policies on Czechoslovakia, labor, and the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. In 1981, he received a certificate of merit from the CPUSA in honor of more than 50 years of service.

Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research

During the

McCarthy era McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United S ...

, Freed collected pamphlets, films, papers and other documents that people were disposing of to distance themselves from Communist involvement. He began by storing the works in a garage. In 1963, he founded of the

at the intersection of La Brea Avenue and Olympic Boulevard in the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles. In 1965, following the

Watts riots The Watts riots, sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion or Watts Uprising, took place in the Watts neighborhood and its surrounding areas of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965. The riots were motivated by anger at the racist and abus ...

, he began renting space in a building at 6120 South Vermont Avenue in

; in 1971, he bought the building. The library contains books, pamphlets, films, tapes and individual and organizational papers on progressive, labor and social movements.

Personal and death

Freed married Tatiana Tassia Hirsh (born in Russia on September 7, 1905) in December 1926. Freed died in December 1982. In 1983, Tassia Freed moved to Laguna Hills, California, where she died in April 1987.

References

External links

The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles

Online Archive of California
Register of the Emil and Tassia Freed Papers, 1915-1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Freed, Emil Members of the Communist Party USA American archivists 1901 births 1982 deaths USC Viterbi School of Engineering alumni