Joseph Turner Patterson (1907–1969) was the thirty-fourth

Attorney General of Mississippi The attorney general of Mississippi is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The attorney general is a constitutional officer responsible for representing state agencies in legal matters, supplying other state officials a ...

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Early life and education

Patterson was born July 10, 1907, in

Eupora, Mississippi Eupora is the largest city in Webster County, Mississippi, Webster County, central Mississippi. The population was 2,197 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. History Eupora was established in 1889 by European Americans on a spur track ...

Public service

In 1930, Patterson was elected city attorney of Calhoun, Mississippi. In 1932, he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. In 1936, he joined the staff of Senator

Pat Harrison Byron Patton "Pat" Harrison (August 29, 1881June 22, 1941) was a Mississippi politician who served as a Democrat in the United States House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919 and in the United States Senate from 1919 until his death. Early l ...

. In 1962, Patterson cooperated with the Kennedy administration to register

James Meredith James Howard Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is an American civil rights activist, writer, political adviser, and United States Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated Univers ...

to attend

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

. In 1968, he represented the state's interests in '' Coffey v. State Educational Finance Commission''. This case marked the end of state subsidies to

segregation academies Segregation academies are private schools in the Southern United States that were founded in the mid-20th century by white parents to avoid having their children attend desegregated public schools. They were founded between 1954, when the U.S ...

References

* ''Joe T. Patterson and the White South's Dilemma: Evolving Resistance to Black Advancement'' , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Joseph 1907 births 1969 deaths Mississippi attorneys general Mississippi Democrats Mississippi College alumni Cumberland School of Law alumni People from Eupora, Mississippi