Activism

Title: Activism
Description: Many forms of civil rights activism took place on the University of Michigan’s campus during Patterson’s tenure as a professor and administrator. He began at the university in 1968, during the Civil Rights Movement. Soon after he joined the faculty, the Black Action Movement (BAM) strikes took place in 1970. BAM’s extended campaign to spur racial equity on campus was one of the most successful student strikes in history. Patterson was not an active participant in faculty efforts to support BAM, despite his other ongoing efforts to support Black students.

To provide a glimpse of the BAM strikes, the Activism collection includes materials from the Bentley Library’s Madison Foster papers (include link to finding aid?). Madison Foster was a professor in the School of Social Work who advocated for fellow Black faculty members to get involved to support BAM. Additionally, the Activism collection includes an early letter to the editor likely written by Patterson under a pseudonym.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Why might Patterson have avoided participating in BAM strike support efforts? How might recent strikes and actions on the University of Michigan’s campus—such as the GEO strike of 2023 or the Gaza solidarity encampment on the Diag in 2024—inform our analysis of his choice?

How should we balance doing wider coalition-based advocacy and more local (i.e., within the School of Music) efforts?

RELATED COLLECTIONS:; Supporting Students; Madison Foster Papers, 1969-1970

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Interview Clip: Committee work as advocacy
Recorded in Studio 2 (The Berg) in the Dance Building at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. [00:00:00] PATTERSON: I must say that I undertook a zeal. I knew the situation in Ann Arbor— TOPPIN: Okay. [00:00:14] PATTERSON: —I knew of the absence, numerically absence of a sizable, a reasonable core of African-American students. I knew of the absence in their training—because I'd been subject to it—to music of their own. And I undertook a zeal to make myself a self-designated awakening of my colleagues at the University of Michigan. TOPPIN: Okay. [00:01:02] PATTERSON: This sounds like, maybe an exaggeration, but it is not an exaggeration. I made myself available, as a musical force, to all the committees that wanted to have a representative from the School of Music, which meant a, a undertaking of many, many committee assignments, which exposed me to the remaining few numbers of faculty colleagues of color. [00:01:50] And I visited them, and I chatted with them, and I come to find out that there was a concealed zeal on their part, which was awakened by my, uh, pledge, self-pledge, to do what I can, not only for the University of Michigan, but the city of Ann Arbor. [00:02:24] And I don't want to, I don't want to sound, uh, over-committed to this zeal, but it did indeed overcommit me. I made myself a um, a non—a hesitant, let me say, a hesitant performer of music.
Interview Clip: Experiences of segregation and integration in Ann Arbor vs. in the army
Recorded in Studio 2 (The Berg) in the Dance Building at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. [00:00:00] TOPPIN: I undergrew and underwent an initial experience and impact from being a subject of uh, very undeniably impressive and interactive persons with segregation—in the southern version of it, And integration, the lack of it— [00:00:37] TOPPIN: Mmkay. PATTERSON: —the limited amount which I'd been exposed to in Ann Arbor, which at that time I was exposed to it; I thought it was maximal. TOPPIN: I see. [00:00:49] PATTERSON: Ann Arbor was a part of the, uh, subtle Midwestern version of the ills of integration, so I thought Ann Arbor was indeed a very ideal place to live. And I told everyone who would ask, “have you experienced integration?” and I would say “I was born in it!” I experienced no segregation, I thought. But uh, experiences, subsequent experiences taught me that I, uh, was fooling myself—and a willing fool. I became acquainted with services, with, uh, segregation in the service, which I experienced immediately after high school. [00:01:59] TOPPIN: I see. PATTERSON: Ann Arbor High School. Uh, my initial training was—military training—was at San Antonio, Texas. TOPPIN: Okay. PATTERSON: Where I was assigned to, in spite of President Truman's dictum, that the services would be immediately integrated. It was three years after I was enrolled in the Air Force that I experienced integration, and that was because the services were very slow to follow the dictates of Truman. So, uh, I, uh, experienced integration only after—complete integration— only after I was assigned overseas in Europe. And it was there that, my living quarters were integrated by eating and sleeping and whatever. It was all integrated. Yeah. So, and I appreciated that very much. And I appreciated the difference between the integration that I thought I was experiencing in Ann Arbor and what was real integration at the time. We could call it real integration. It was not real integration per se.
Estimate of Black Students on Ann Arbor Campus, 1968–1970
This document summarizes the number of Black students as recorded by a 1968 Compliance Report and an official estimate for 1969–1970. Undergraduates are counted as one group, but graduate students are delineated by schools within the university. The document also compares these numbers to the university's total enrollment.
BAM Strike Poster
This poster is largely composed of a line drawing of a raised fist, surrounded by text that reads "BAM Strike / by the coalition to support BAM / Do or Die"
BAM Leaflet Distributed at ENACT Teach-In
This leaflet explaining the BAM demands was handed out at the Environmental Action for Survival (ENACT) Teach-In of March 11 and 12, 1970. It includes an explanation of how BAM's demands are connected to ENACT's environmental concerns.
Analysis of the University of Michigan's Executive Officers' Plan in Response to BAM Demands
This is an undated draft of a written analysis of the University of Michigan's Executive Officers' plan that compares it to the BAM demands. The analysis explicates the reasoning and feasibility behind BAM's demands, including statistics on the Black students at the university and the university's budget. This analysis appears to have been written in the period of 1970 before the strike began.
Faculty of the School of Social Work Pledges and Statement of Support for BAM
A statement of support in response to the BAM strike and the School of Social Work's Black faculty's statement from the School of Social Work's white faculty. It is accompanied by a list of pledged actions from the School of Social Work's faculty in support of BAM's demands.
Black Faculty of the University of Michigan School of Social Work Response to BAM Demands
A statement of support for the Black Action Movement's (BAM) strike efforts towards increased numbers of Black students and faculty, as well as the establishment of a Black Studies Center.
Flyer for Informational Meeting on BAM Demands for All Faculty, Staff, and University Personnel, Sponsored by Black Faculty and Staff
A flyer advertising the informational meeting that is reported on in the Black Faculty and Staff Daily Bulletin, March 27, 1970. Of note are the calls to action on the poster, which read "IGNORANCE CAN NO LONGER BE YOUR EXCUSE. BE THERE—LEARN WHAT BAM IS ALL ABOUT!!!!!!"
Black Faculty and Staff Daily Bulletin, March 27, 1970
The second daily bulletin sent by a group of Black faculty and staff in support of BAM during their strike at the University of Michigan. Reports on a meeting with white faculty, staff, and personnel earlier the same day, and notes that there is a moratorium on all mass activities over the weekend until the mass meeting on Sunday, March 29, 1970.
Letter from Percy Bates and Elizabeth Mimms to Willis C. Patterson, October 15, 1987
A note from representatives of the Program for Educational Opportunity thanking Patterson for attending a luncheon with Reginald Wilson, Director of the Minority Concerns Office of the American Council on Education, and apologizing for a miscommunication about its location.
Letter to the Editor from P.W. Charles
A letter to the editor (publication unclear) commenting on the legal action taken by a synagogue to prevent Charles Thomas from reading his Black Manifesto. The typed signature is from "P.W. Charles (A Black citizen of Ann Arbor)." Given the shared initials and its location in the archive, this could be a pseudonym used by Willis Patterson. It is unclear if this letter was ever sent.
United Coalition Against Racism statement
The exact date and author of this statement are unclear, but the folder is labeled 1987, and the statement mentions that it is being written during President Reagan's tenure (1981–1989). The statement details the many ways in which racism manifests on the University of Michigan campus, and the desire to create a coalition from the many different groups working towards progressive causes in order to directly combat this racism.
Minority Student Organization Grant Application to Rackham Student Government
A completed grant application form requesting $50 in support of an informal gathering of new and returning graduate students in the School of Music. Signed by Oral Moses, Uzee Brown, and Yvonne Johnson.
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 Paul Boylan from Leonard Johnson
A letter expressing support for the proposal for a course on the art songs of Black composers. Cites a NASM review stating the the School of Music could benefit from "expanding our comparatively conservative offerings."
Letter to the School of Music Student Council from Oral Moses
A letter from Oral Moses on behalf on the Minority Students' Association of the School of Music requesting financial support from a recital of music by Black composers in celebration of Black History Week.
Black Faculty and Staff Daily Bulletin, March 26, 1970
The first in a series of daily bulletins sent by a group of Black faculty and staff in support of BAM during their strike at the University of Michigan. Of special interest is its direct call for all Black faculty on campus to get involved in support of BAM since "we must work in the interest of Black People."
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.