Robert B. Patterson

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Robert B. Patterson
Born(1921-12-13)December 13, 1921
Clarksdale, Mississippi
DiedSeptember 21, 2017(2017-09-21) (aged 95)[1]
Carrollton, Mississippi
OccupationExecutive Secretary,
Association of Citizens' Councils of Mississippi
Known forFounder of the Citizens' Councils, 1954

Robert Boyd "Tut" Patterson (December 13, 1921 – September 21, 2017) was an American plantation manager and former college football star who is known for founding the first Citizens' Councils, a white supremacist organization, established in Indianola, Mississippi in 1954, in response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. In 1966 he helped found Pillow Academy, near Greenwood.[2][3]

As a boy in Clarksdale, he was close friends—"playing, fishing, hunting, wrestling"—with Aaron Henry, who grew up to become a founder of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Council of Federated Organizations and the Mississippi branch of the NAACP.[4]

Patterson graduated from the Mississippi State College School of Agriculture in 1943. At 17 he hitchhiked from Clarksdale to Starkville to try out with the Bulldogs, "hoping to earn a scholarship to play football and study farming." He failed in the tryouts as a center, but when placed as an end he succeeded so emphatically that he was awarded a four-year scholarship.[5] He was on the 1940 Orange Bowl championship team, the only undefeated team in the school's history. In 1942 he was made captain. That year he played in the Blue-Gray College All Star game and was selected as an All Southeastern Conference end. He was named to the MSU Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.[1][6][7]

At Mississippi State he pledged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He was a member of Alpha Zeta agricultural fraternity as well as ROTC and the honors clubs Phi Eta Sigma, Blue Key and Omicron Delta Kappa, and was president of the school's athletic society the M-Club in his senior year.[8]

Patterson was a veteran of World War II, at 24 attaining the rank of major. He was a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. He made 16 parachute jumps, including into Normandy, and fought with General James M. Gavin in the Battle of the Bulge. The 82nd Airborne was one of the first American occupying troops in Berlin; Patterson was appointed Division Provost Marshal for Berlin by General Gavin, who later played an important part in integrating the Army.[9][1]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Robert Boyd Patterson Sr of Carrollton, Mississippi". Williams & Lord Funeral Home, Greenwood, Mississippi.
  2. ^ Rubin, Richard (August 30, 1998). "Should the Mississippi Files Have Been Re-Opened? No, because ..." The New York Times.
  3. ^ Cobb, James C. (December 23, 2010). "The Real Story of the White Citizens' Council". History News Network.
  4. ^ Evers & Peters 1967, pp. 232–233.
  5. ^ Cleveland, Rick (December 24, 2014). "Patterson recalls Miami trip in '41". Hattiesburg American.
  6. ^ Evers & Peters 1967, p. 112.
  7. ^ "Mississippi State University M-Club Alumni Association & Sports Hall of Fame". Mississippi State University. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  8. ^ ""Full Text of 'Reveille" (1943 yearbook)". Mississippi State University. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  9. ^ "The 82nd Military Police Platoon". The 82nd Airborne during WWII. Retrieved November 29, 2017.

Bibliography[]

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