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A new documentary, “American Agitators,” examines the life of labor organizer and community leader Fred Ross Sr. It is narrated by El Teatro Campesino founder Luis Valdez and is scheduled to be shown at the 2025 Poppy Jasper Festival on April 14.
“Fred used to say, ‘A good organizer is an arsonist setting people on fire,’” director Raymond Telles said. “We hope the film will make people see that if they want to make changes in their communities, that it’s possible to do it.”
Ross’s life reads like a primer on 20th-century labor and civil rights history. He ran a Dust Bowl migrant camp, was friends with Woody Guthrie, worked to secure jobs for Japanese-American internees, organized minority parents to help end school segregation in California, and was a key figure in launching Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez and Luis Valdez into lives of activism.
“Fred was down to earth in every way,” said Valdez. “He was humane with a deep understanding of human nature and people. It all came from a sense of practicality with no histrionics.”
Valdez said he saw Ross’s impact on Chavez and Huerta firsthand as he developed and shaped their activism.
“He took these farmworkers and developed them into leaders,” he said, “because he saw those qualities in them. They had a real intense and personal relationship together as organizers.”
Telles became involved with the project when Fred Ross Sr. died. His son, Fred Ross, Jr., also an organizer, asked him to film his father’s memorial service. From then onward, Ross Jr. constantly urged Telles to make a documentary on his father’s life.
“I couldn’t say no,” Telles said. “Fred Jr. had a tenacious but wonderful way of getting people on board and working together. He really loved his dad, and he motivated us all to make this film, which I think is an important one for the times.”
Fred Jr. died from pancreatic cancer three months into the filming, but was heavily involved until then.
“Fred Jr. brought a lot of people into the project who believed in his father’s work,” Telles said. “We wanted to keep the energy and the tenacity of Fred Jr. as we were telling this story, and his voice can be heard throughout the film.”
Valdez was originally asked by Telles to be one of the people interviewed on camera for the film. Telles had worked with Valdez in 2011, when Valdez narrated his documentary, “The Storm that Swept Mexico.”
“There was no question on behalf of our team that Luis should be the narrator,” Telles said. “The film is a series of people telling their stories, and he’s already in there telling his. Bringing his voice in was a little tricky, but I think we did a good job.”
Valdez thought he had already completed his work on the film when he got a call a year later asking him to narrate it.
“I agreed,” Valdez said. “In my mind it’s a tribute to Fred Sr. and Fred Jr. and they were classic Americans, fighting against racism, economic inequality, and in defense of farm workers. Fred saw the inequality, and he saw the injustice. He impressed me very much.”
American Agitators will be shown on April 14 at the Granada Theater in Hollister as part of the 2025 Poppy Jasper Festival’s “México y Tú Day” celebration. Telles and Valdez will join a panel discussion and awards ceremony that day at El Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista.
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