Ernest “Rip” Patton Jr., a freedom rider and early member of the Nashville civil rights movement in the 1960s, has died.
The death was confirmed Tuesday by Dorothy Walker, director of the Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, who has built a personal relationship with Patton over the past decade.
Walker said Patton is a talented and devoted storyteller who involves people in the story with a “participative nature” in order to delight audiences.
“The whole time I heard him speak, I saw young people in the museum sitting next to him with such dedication, and I saw how not-so-young people left the museum in tears because they came into contact.” with him, ”said Walker. “He was just so skillful at storytelling and not such that you focus on the terrible parts of the story. He always made you feel hope. “
Full coverage: The civil rights movement in Nashville
Would you like to learn more about the Freedom Rides? These museums help tell the story
In the Nashville civil rights era, Patton was one of several college students who took part in sit-in strikes during lunch hours to protest segregation and unequal service. He told The Tennessean in 2017 that he acted as a runner during these demonstrations.
Patton ran from shop fronts to payphones, calling for any arrests of his fellow protesters to the First Baptist Capitol Hill Church, where demonstrations were coordinated. Those in the church would send more students to replenish the counters.
He was one of 3,000 college students who marched to the steps of the Nashville courthouse in 1960 in a silent, non-violent protest after the bombing of a black civil rights attorney’s home. At 21, Patton also took part in the 1961 Freedom Ride to Jackson, Miss., On a Greyhound bus and was arrested on arrival.
According to the Freedom Rides Museum, Patton left Nashville without telling his mother, who found out when a family friend saw pictures of his arrest on television.
The distance in front of us:John Lewis, Governor John Patterson, and the challenges of reconciliation
After his arrest, he was one of 14 students expelled from Tennessee State University for participating in the Freedom Rides. Although he never finished his graduation from TSU, Patton pursued a career as a jazz musician and continued to share his story and advocate civil rights in Nashville and beyond.
According to the museum, he and the other students were eventually awarded an honorary doctorate from the TSU. After the Freedom Rides, Patton raised funds for the civil rights movement and became a truck driver.
Walker said she hopes people will take a moment to ponder Patton’s life and his inspiring story. She believes Nashville “really lost an ambassador”.
“He wasn’t as well known as Congressman John Lewis and Rev. CT Vivian and Diane Nash,” she said. “He didn’t have the same level of national recognition. But his courage and commitment were just as great.
“He loved Nashville, even if he didn’t get that love back from town early in his life. He helped change it. He didn’t go and looked for a better place; he stayed to change it … he never abandoned Nashville. “
Comments are closed.