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Patterson was married to the daughter of the majority owner of the Arkansas Gazette, and was its publisher for 40 years. During his tenure he upgraded the paper's equipment and created an accounting system that was so good, many other newspapers adopted it. But he's best known for supporting school desegregation in Arkansas. In 1957, most of Little Rock, Ark., was in favor of "separate but equal" schooling of whites and blacks, but a federal court ordered that Central High School must desegregate. The paper's owner, Patterson's father in law J.N. Heiskell, was reluctant to go against the white majority, but Patterson and his wife convinced him otherwise, and the paper was one of the few southern papers to strongly editorialize against segregation. Local business leaders tried to organize a boycott against the paper, but it failed. Still, the Gazette lost about $1 million in ad and subscription revenue, a fortune at the time. The paper won a Pulitzer Prize for public service for its reporting on the issue, and another for its editorials. The Gazette was merged into the Arkansas Democrat in 1991, five years after Patterson retired. He died May 29 in Little Rock at 91. From This is True for 28 May 2006 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Jeff Wiltse List Price: $29.95 Amazon Price: $21.86 Editorial Review: As sites of race riots, shrinking swimsuits, and conspicuous leisure, swimming pools reflect the tensions and transformations that have given rise to modern America.  By: Calvin Trillin List Price: $22.95 Amazon Price: $22.95  By: Andrew Heidelberg List Price: $12.95 Amazon Price: $12.95 Editorial Review: This book is about my personal experiences and feelings as part of the "Norfolk 17," who went through the hardship of the initial school desegregation debacle from 1958 to 1962 in Norfolk, Virginia. It will provide some historical events, but more importantly, a first-hand account of what truly happened. I am a firm believer of the notion that formal history books are written by winners of war (i.e., one-sided, whoever is in control). Just like a well-prepared photo album, formal history books hide the "dirty laundry." In order to find the truth, one must necessarily dig deep, and sometimes the truth is so deep that it is still buried within people?s feelings. Therefore, bringing it out and presenting it to the world in the written form, as I do with this book, will be a great service for the present and the future and will help preserve the memories of the past no matter how painful they may be. Some of the stories you will read about may shock you, such as the verbal attacks when confronted by bigots, the extent of racial hatred, and the actual physical attacks exhibited like the incident with Lavera Forbes. I hope all who read the book will compare it to reports and writings offered by others on the same subject.  List Price: $22.50 Amazon Price: $20.25 Editorial Review: In 1958, facing court-ordered integration, a Virginia governor closed public schools in three cities. White moderates quickly protested against the school closings and eventually defeated the resistance to school desegregation in 1959. This text explores this period in the history of Virginia.  By: Osha Gray Davidson List Price: $19.95 Amazon Price: $14.96 Editorial Review: In a vivid portrait of a relationship that defied all odds in 1960s North Carolina, Davidson tells how C.P. Ellis (a poor white member of the KKK) and Ann Atwater (a poor black civil rights activist) went from being each other's worst and most hostile enemies to forming an incredible, long-lasting friendship. By placing this very personal story into broader context, Davidson demonstrates that race is intimately tied to issues of class, and that cooperation is possible--even in the most divisive situations--when people begin to listen to one another. |
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