Supporting Students

Title: Supporting Students
Description: Patterson intentionally supported students of color, especially Black students within the music school, through a variety of means. He advised the Minority Music Students Association, sat on the Advisory Committee for Graduate Minority Affairs, and participated in the Student Research Opportunity Program (SROP), an initiative that connected racially marginalized undergraduate students to research positions on faculty projects. Even before he officially began at the university, he was lobbying for the admission and financial support of talented young Black singers with whom he had previously worked. Off campus, he founded Our Own Thing, a youth music initiative for Black students in Ann Arbor. He also encouraged students within the School of Music (later SMTD) to learn about and perform the works of marginalized composers.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

How did Patterson’s engagement with music students interact with wider efforts towards social justice in the School of Music and the University of Michigan?

What are the perks and pitfalls of fostering social justice/DEI through direct engagement with student initiatives?

RELATED COLLECTIONS:; Administration; Activism

Items

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Letter to John McCollum from Willis Patterson
A letter advocating for two students' applications to the University of Michigan School of Music—Shelia Jackson and Johnnie Williams—sent before Patterson officially began as a professor. Patterson highlights that Williams is a Black baritone.
Black American Composers Concert Program
Program for a free concert of Black American Composers in celebration of Black History Week, featuring compositions by John Work, Scott Joplin, George Walker, and others performed by students of the University of Michigan School of Music. The concert was held on February 26, 1978 at 4pm in the Rackham Assembly Hall. The program is dedicated to Dr. Eva Jessye and Professor Willis Patterson.
Letter to Paul Boylan and CDR Members from Willis Patterson
A letter expressing both the voice department's ambivalence towards the student course proposal on the art songs of Black composers and Patterson's personal strong support for it. His diverging opinions from the department are of particular interest. Two pages of the letter present, but it is incomplete in the archive file.
Letter to Marilyn Gordon from Angela Jones, April 7, 1988
This letter to Marilyn Gordon, Coordinator of Minority Affairs and the Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), and the rest of the SROP selection committee outlines Jones's research objectives for the summer of 1988 if selected for SROP, with Willis Patterson as her research mentor.
Summary Report of 9 November, 1977 Meeting
Meeting items included future meeting scheduling, committee membership, a prospective student visitation program, and support avenues for the University Fellowship for Minority Students. The discussion of the fellowship's lower stipend amount compared to other university fellowships is of particular interest.
Vocal Music by Black Composers Course Proposal
Course proposal submitted to Dean Paul Boylan for a course titled "Vocal Music of Black Composers." Covers objective, rationale, audience, prerequisites, suggested professor (Willis Patterson), and suggested bibliography, among other items.