Ernest “Rip” Patton Jr. was a 21-year-old drum major in the Tennessee State University Marching Band when he boarded a Greyhound bus in Nashville, Tenn., with 26 others on May 23, 1961, to become part of a nationwide movement known as the Freedom Riders, private citizens who risked life and limb to change segregation laws and customs in the Deep South.
The bus was bound for Montgomery, Ala., where the historic First Baptist Church had been bombed and was under seige. The following day, he continued on to Jackson, Miss., where he was arrested and sent to the notorious Parchman State Prison Farm, which resulted in his expulsion from TSU.
He has no regrets over his decision to be an active part of the civil rights movement. “It was time for us to do something, so we did,” Patton said at Friday night’s opening of “Moving Toward Liberation” at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library.
Blair-Caldwell is one of only 20 sites selected to host the collection of pictures, historic documents and memorabilia that will remain on view during library hours through Nov. 28.
Several of Denver’s early-day civil rights leaders were at the reception, including Lauren Watson, the president and founding member of the Denver Black Panther Party, and Jane Wasson, Ruth Steiner and Helen Walcott, founding members of the city’s CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) chapter.
Joanne Davidson’s Seen First blog:
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com
See additional pictures from the Freedom Riders opening reception at
