A portion of a street in Watts was named Monday, Sept. 16, for longtime activist “Sweet” Alice Harris, celebrating her decades seeking to improve the lives of the community’s residents through her work in education, housing and social services.
The 90-year-old Harris was joined by Los Angeles City Councilman Tim McOsker during a ceremony on Lou Dillon Avenue, near the eight homes she owns on the street where the social services organization she founded in 1967, Parents of Watts Working with Youths and Adults, is operated.
“Dedicating the street that has uplifted so many Watts residents as Sweet Alice Row is a fitting testament to her decades of work in this community,” McOsker said in a statement. “Lou Dillon Blvd., from 107th St. to Santa Ana Blvd. N., will now be known as Sweet Alice Row, serving as a permanent reminder of her impact and the legacy she continues to build at 90 years young.”
The councilman added that Harris has always inspired him with her “unwavering commitment to uplifting everyone and her determination to never leave anyone behind.”
“Before I even decided to run for office, I sought her wisdom, and she has been a guiding force ever since. Walking up to her porch and sitting beside her is a tradition shared by so many — from congressmembers and senators to mayors, supervisors, and council members,” McOsker said.
Harris is the executive director of the organization that encourages children to stay in school and always avoid drugs. It provides emergency food and shelter for homeless people, prepares teenagers for trade school, college and the job market, and also offers drug counseling, health seminars and parenting classes.
Harris founded the organization in an attempt to alleviate tensions in the neighborhood after the 1965 riots. It focuses on creating a safe and nurturing environment for the youth, advocating for social change and providing support for families grappling with poverty and crime.
“The reason I’ve done this for so long is because I can remember when I needed help,” Harris said in a 2015 interview. “In Alabama, a family gave me help when I was considered nothing. They gave me a job, so I promised them that whenever I find somebody in the same shape and wearing the same shoes I wore, I would do for them what they had done for me.
“I won’t stop. I’ll be doing this until the Lord comes and gets me because I love it. I love to see people smile and I know how good they feel, because I know how good I felt.”
Harris is known for speaking her mind in pursuing equal services and opportunities for her fellow residents and countering any resistance she gets from uncooperative parents, school administrators or city officials with her trademark question: “Do you want to be part of the building crew or the wrecking crew?”
Harris was born in Gasden, Alabama on Dec. 29, 1933, and raised there. She moved to Detroit, where she operated her own beauty shop. She moved to Los Angeles in the late 1950s, seeking better opportunities and a brighter future for herself and her family, only to face numerous challenges and hardships as an African American woman in Watts amid poverty, gang violence and social neglect, according to McOsker, whose 15th district includes Watts.
The naming of the street is the latest of a long series of honors for Harris, which also include receiving an honorary doctorate from USC, being selected by President George W. Bush as a “point of light” for the impact she has made on Watts through her volunteer work, being selected by Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante as “Woman of the Year,” in 2002, receiving the Minerva Award created by California first lady Maria Shriver to honor remarkable women, having the play park on Compton Avenue named for her and having the Oral Arts Room at King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science dedicate the room to her.
