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Homeboy Came to Orange: A Story of People's Power
The story of a union organizer who found a second career in community organizing and helped a Jim Crow city become a better place.
Ernest Thompson dedicated his life to organizing the powerless. This lively, illustrated personal narrative of his work shows the great contribution that people’s coalitions can make to the struggle for equality and freedom. Thompson cut his teeth organizing one of the great industrial unions, the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America, and brought his organizing skills and commitment to coalition building to Orange, New Jersey. He built a strong organization and skillfully led fights for school desegregation, black political representation, and strong government in a city he initially thought of as a “dirty Jim Crow town going nowhere.” Thompson came to love the City of Orange and its caring citizens, seeing in its struggles a microcosm of America. This story of people’s power is meant for all who struggle for human rights, economic opportunity, decent housing, effective education, and a chance for children to have a better life.
Ernest Thompson (1906-1971) grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on a farm that had been given to his family at the end of the Civil War. The family was very poor and oppressed by racist practices. Thompson was determined to get away and to obtain power. He migrated to Jersey City, where he became part of the union organizing movement that built the Congress of Industrial Unions (CIO). He became the first African American to hold a fulltime organizing position with his union, the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). He eventually headed UE’s innovative Fair Employment Practices program and fought for equal rights and pay for women and minority workers. Thompson also helped build the National Negro Labor Council, 1951-1956, and served as its director of organizing. In 1956, under the onslaught of the McCarthy era, UE was split in two, and Thompson lost his job. His wife, Margaret Thompson, brought the local school segregation to his attention. Ernie “Home” Thompson organized to desegregate the regional schools, building strong coalitions and political power for the black community that ultimately served all the people of Orange.
Ernest Thompson dedicated his life to organizing the powerless. This lively, illustrated personal narrative of his work shows the great contribution that people’s coalitions can make to the struggle for equality and freedom. Thompson cut his teeth organizing one of the great industrial unions, the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America, and brought his organizing skills and commitment to coalition building to Orange, New Jersey. He built a strong organization and skillfully led fights for school desegregation, black political representation, and strong government in a city he initially thought of as a “dirty Jim Crow town going nowhere.” Thompson came to love the City of Orange and its caring citizens, seeing in its struggles a microcosm of America. This story of people’s power is meant for all who struggle for human rights, economic opportunity, decent housing, effective education, and a chance for children to have a better life.
Ernest Thompson (1906-1971) grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on a farm that had been given to his family at the end of the Civil War. The family was very poor and oppressed by racist practices. Thompson was determined to get away and to obtain power. He migrated to Jersey City, where he became part of the union organizing movement that built the Congress of Industrial Unions (CIO). He became the first African American to hold a fulltime organizing position with his union, the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). He eventually headed UE’s innovative Fair Employment Practices program and fought for equal rights and pay for women and minority workers. Thompson also helped build the National Negro Labor Council, 1951-1956, and served as its director of organizing. In 1956, under the onslaught of the McCarthy era, UE was split in two, and Thompson lost his job. His wife, Margaret Thompson, brought the local school segregation to his attention. Ernie “Home” Thompson organized to desegregate the regional schools, building strong coalitions and political power for the black community that ultimately served all the people of Orange.
- GenresActivism
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 18, 2018
Not sure why this says "Kindle Edition", it's a printed book but whatevs.
Inasmuch as we radical/revolutionary activists want to pick fights and fight those fights with a true intention to win, we need detailed stories of how our predecessors fought past fights. How they fought, how they won, and how they lost then dusted themselves off and got back up again. Homeboy came to Orange is just such an account.
Despite urban northern New Jersey being one of my ancestral homes (as my grandparents came up from Down South as part of the mid-20th century black refugee waves known as the Great Migration), I knew little of the political struggle there prior to the early 70s/my father's heyday. So this book gave me remarkable insight into the political world that my grandparents likely experienced as young working/professional-class blacks.
From gerrymandering to school segregation, the battles have not been easy, and (as we can see even today) we can't rightly say anything has been fully "won", but the beauty is in the struggle towards some semblance of taking power and holding that power against the odds.
Our task now is not to look down on Ernest "Home" Thompson and his comrades and throw scorn upon them for all they did not get done, but rather to honor their efforts, celebrate their incremental wins, accept that this shit is damn hard, climb atop their shoulders ,and keep on fighting. I am not a gradualist. I don't believe that shit about the "arc of justice bending" towards America being polished up into some kinda righteous joint. This shit is rotten at the core, but if we tear this shit down it won't have been by our hands alone.
Inasmuch as we radical/revolutionary activists want to pick fights and fight those fights with a true intention to win, we need detailed stories of how our predecessors fought past fights. How they fought, how they won, and how they lost then dusted themselves off and got back up again. Homeboy came to Orange is just such an account.
Despite urban northern New Jersey being one of my ancestral homes (as my grandparents came up from Down South as part of the mid-20th century black refugee waves known as the Great Migration), I knew little of the political struggle there prior to the early 70s/my father's heyday. So this book gave me remarkable insight into the political world that my grandparents likely experienced as young working/professional-class blacks.
From gerrymandering to school segregation, the battles have not been easy, and (as we can see even today) we can't rightly say anything has been fully "won", but the beauty is in the struggle towards some semblance of taking power and holding that power against the odds.
Our task now is not to look down on Ernest "Home" Thompson and his comrades and throw scorn upon them for all they did not get done, but rather to honor their efforts, celebrate their incremental wins, accept that this shit is damn hard, climb atop their shoulders ,and keep on fighting. I am not a gradualist. I don't believe that shit about the "arc of justice bending" towards America being polished up into some kinda righteous joint. This shit is rotten at the core, but if we tear this shit down it won't have been by our hands alone.
December 25, 2025
I knew that this would cover alot of issues regarding labor, segregation, equality, and dignity, along with the herculean effort required to navigate consistent resistance that has never actually gone away. However, even though all these issues all manifest in the school system, I didnt realize how much the specific details of education would surface in this story. I really appreciated the behind the scenes grassroots view of education because so many of these issues still impact schools and districts in particular. As the book points out, there is definitely an ebb and flow to policy and resting on past gains can blind us to the resurgence of policies and attitudes that still impact society today. Understanding how that has played out over time is a valuable and appreciated perspective.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews