Career
Born in Pullman, Washington, Frederick was raised in Baton Rouge and Atlanta, and moved to Portland in 1974. According to the Portland Tribune, he is Oregon"s "highest-ranking black leader and the only black man serving in the Oregon Legislature" as of 2010. Commissioner Amanda Fritz and The Skanner endorsed Frederick during his campaign for District 43.
Frederick"s 2013 Regular Session assignments are as Vice-Chair, Land Use Committee.
And both the Ways and Means Committee, per se, as well as the Ways and Means Subcommittee On Education. Born in Pullman, Washington, Frederick grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Atlanta, Georgia.
Frederick has lived in northeast Portland since 1974. Throughout his career, he was a teacher at the Metropolitan Learning Center for two years, a radio and television reporter with Keep Growing Wiser for seventeen years, Director of Public Information at Portland Public Schools for thirteen years, Assistant to the President at Portland Community College, and held a position on the State Board of Education.
Frederick, who grew up in the South and was mentored by Martin Luther King, Junior., has worked to improve race relations.
He was sworn into the Oregon House of Representatives in October 2009 and began serving on the House Interim Human Services Committee and House Interim Sustainability & Economic Development Committee. Lew Frederick maintains a research and strategy affiliation with the California and Washington, District of Columbia-based company, The Rand Reed Group, an applied anthropological consultancy run by Kathleen Rand Reed. Reed is an Associate Professional Consultant with CUSAG, (Cultural Systems Analysis Group) at the University of Maryland, College Park.