[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 17 (Tuesday, February 11, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E218-E219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  DR. W.C. PATTON: CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EARL F. HILLIARD

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 11, 1997

  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay special recognition to 
the triumphs of Dr. W.C. Patton.
  Dr. W.C. Patton, a native of Alabama, was nationally noted as a civil 
rights activist and czar in the Alabama civil rights movement and 
overall progress of Birmingham. He was known to many as the father of 
Alabama's NAACP movement.
  Dr. Patton attended public schools in Birmingham and Alabama State 
College in Montgomery, AL. In 1970, the honorary degree of doctor of 
laws was conferred on him by the Birmingham Baptist College.
  He spent 16 years in Alabama schools before becoming Alabama State 
manager of the American Woodmen, a fraternal life insurance 
association. In 1962, he was elected a member of the national board of 
directors of the Supreme Camp of American Woodmen and in 1964, vice 
supreme commander of the American Woodmen.

[[Page E219]]

  During this time, Dr. Patton became deeply involved in the political 
process of our State and Nation. In 1952, he called community leaders 
together from around the State and organized the Alabama State 
Coordinating Association for Registration and Voting. At the time, 
there were approximately 20,000 registered black voters in the State of 
Alabama. He became president of the Birmingham branch of the NAACP and 
later became president of the Alabama State Conference of NAACP 
Branches. After 10 years, he resigned with the American Woodmen to 
become executive secretary for the State NAACP of Alabama. Membership 
increased and Alabama ranked second behind North Carolina in the 
southeast.
  In 1956, when the NAACP was enjoined from doing business in Alabama, 
he became the national association director of voter education for the 
NAACP with headquarters in Memphis, TN. Later he became national 
director of NAACP voter education .
  Dr. Patton did not limit his work to one area; he has served his 
community in many capacities--on many boards and educational and civic 
committees, to make Birmingham a safe and progressive place to live.

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