Our Heroes

Santos Manuel
1866

John W. North
1870
Abolitionist and member of the nominating convention for Abraham Lincoln, John North founded Northfield, and later Riverside, based on equality, education, and shared opportunity.

Eliza Tibbets
1871
Known for starting the navel orange boom in California, Eliza was also a suffragist. In 1871, she was one of a group of 70 women, accompanied by Fredrick Douglass, who tried to register to vote when the District of Columbia was enfranchised. Turned away, they later tried to vote but were rejected. They sued and their test cases were heard in the district Supreme Court.

Dosan Ahn Chang Ho
1904


Jukichi and Ken Harada
1915
Challengers of the 1913 California Alien Land Law, the family’s Riverside Lemon Street home is a National Historic Landmark that embodies their 1915 victory. The Haradas died while interned at Topaz Relocation Center (Arizona) during WWII. Their daughter returned to the home after the war.

Rupert Costo
1930s

Mine Okubo
1942

Jack Clarke, Sr.
1946


Barnett and Jean Grier
1951


Dalip Singh Saund
1951


Lulamae Clemons
1960's


César Chávez
1962


John Sotelo
1963


Robert Bland
1965
Bland led a parents’ movement to integrate Riverside schools after an arson burned Lowell School in 1965. Only three weeks after the Watts riots, the arson threatened the peace of the community but the group led by Bland was able to effectively negotiate with the school district.

Arthur L. Littleworth
1965


Edna Milan
1966


Tim Hays
1967


Tomàs Rivera
1979


Richard Milanovich
1984


Justice Richard T. Fields
1991


Kay Berryhill Smith and Carolyn Confer
1991
She was also a key member of Lambda Legal, a party to defense of the suit and an advocate for LGBT rights. Riverside was the first exception to win against a national campaign of such discriminatory measures. Both Carolyn and Kay organized community and political support to stop the campaign in the region. Kay and Carolyn founded PACE, a regional gay and lesbian political action committee. Kay and Connie married in 2008, just four months before Kay’s death.

Judge Virginia A. Phillips
2010
On September 9, 2010, Judge Virginia A. Phillips ruled in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America that the ban on service by openly gay service members was an unconstitutional violation of the First and Fifth Amendments. On October 12, 2010, she granted an immediate worldwide injunction prohibiting the Department of Defense from enforcing the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy and ordered the military to suspend and discontinue any investigation or discharge, separation, or other proceedings based on it.

Juan Felipe Herrera
2015
