Patricia Stephens Due (1939-2012) was an American Civil Rights activist who led the sit-in and jail-in movements and fought for a more just society even when faced with serious harm.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
All month, we’re talking about Activists, women who stood up against injustice and for a better world.
Today we’re talking about an American Civil Rights activist whose work began as a student and extended throughout her life and beyond. She was one of the leaders of the sit in and jail in movements, continuing to fight for a more just society even when faced with serious harm. According to the New York Times, her FBI file was over 400 pages long. Let’s talk about Patricia Stephens Due.
Patricia Gloria Stephens was born on December 9, 1939, 15 months after her sister Priscilla who would go on to be her partner in many organizing efforts. Patricia was the second of three kids born to Lottie Mae Powell Stephens and Horace Walter Stephens.
The Stephens family lived in Belle Glade, Florida, for most of Patricia’s youth.
By the time Patricia was 13 years old, she was very aware of the discrimination she faced for being Black, and was ready to protest. She and her sister refused to go to the designated Colored Window at their local Dairy Queen. Instead, they stood in line for the window marked “Whites Only.”
In 1957, Patricia started school at Florida A&M University. Two years later, in 1959, Patricia and Priscilla attended a workshop put on by the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE, on nonviolent civil disobedience. Patricia then started a local chapter of the organization in order to continue the work she tried to tackle at just 13 years old: Integration.
The following year, on February 20, 1960, Patricia, her sister and some other students, sat down at a whites only lunch counter at a Woolworth’s in Tallahassee and refused to get up until they were served. Nineteen days earlier, four guys sat down at a similar lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, officially kicking off a growing sit-in movement across the South.
Patricia and ten of her peers were arrested. Rather than paying a $300 fine, Patricia and Priscilla served out 49 days in jail. Their stand, their determination to serve their time as a statement, became a norm when others were arrested and charged unfairly.
Patricia’s leadership and courage caught the attention of people around the country supportive of the cause including Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Belafonte, and James Baldwin. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sent the sisters a telegram that said, “Going to jail for a righteous cause is a badge of honor and a symbol of dignity.”
After she was finally released, Patricia continued the fight to change her city and country. One of her fellow activists was a man named John D. Due, Jr. He was in law school at Florida A&M University. The two got married in 1963 and would go on to have three children together. For their honeymoon, Patricia and John went to the March on Washington and heard Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech.
The following year, in 1964, Patricia took on a new role in CORE. She served as Field Secretary for a voter education and registration project in North Florida. Under her leadership, the program registered more voters than any other regional program in the South.
Patricia also worked to improve the lives of workers, the poor, and other underserved populations in the U.S. But her activism took a physical toll on her. After being hit in the face by a can of tear gas, Patricia’s eyes were injured and she was forced to wear dark glasses for the rest of her life.
In 1967, ten years after she enrolled, Patricia graduated from Florida A&M University. It took her all of a decade to get her degree because she spent periods of time traveling around the U.S. to rally energy behind the Civil Rights movement. She was also suspended multiple times by the university due to her Civil Rights work.
Patricia’s work continued throughout the rest of her life on political and advocacy campaigns. Her daughter referred to her as a “professional volunteer.” She was dedicated to leading and teaching the next generation. She led workshops and taught classes to help pass on the tactics and stories of the movement she helped to lead.
Patricia wrote a memoir and in 2003 co-authored a book with one of her daughters, Tananarive Due, called, “Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights.”
Patricia received an honorary doctorate degree from Florida A&M University and she won the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Outstanding Achievement, among many other recognitions.
On February 7, 2012, Patricia died. She was 72 years old.
All month, we’re talking about Activists. For more on why we’re doing what we’re doing, check out our newsletter, Womannica Weekly. Follow us on facebook and instagram @encyclopediawomannica and follow me directly on twitter @jennymkaplan.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!