Description

This letter from T. D. Patton of Carthage, Tennessee, to Governor Buford Ellington demanding he close Highlander Folk School or they would face violence from the Ku Klux Klan. Transcription follows. "In a few hours the people will know whether you represent Tennessee, or are another Quisling scalawag white trash traitor like Frank Goad [Clement]. The people know that Highlander Communist School is a rotting cancer that must be removed. If you refuse to obey the mandate of the people's legislature to appoint a committee to investigate, because 'you don't want the monkey on your back', you will be calling on the underground resistance to rule by vigilante night riding, Ku Klux Klan, rope, torch, whip and bomb. We don't want that. Sincerely, Dr. T. D. Patton"Dr. T. D. Patton of Carthage, Tennessee, was a noted racist and segregationist. In addition to this letter to Gov. Ellington, he sent letters to the Chattanooga School Board Chairman in an attempt to stop them from any "Communist negro-mixing" and a letter to potential defense attorneys of Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, Emmett Till's murderers, advising them on the trial. Patton is also mentioned in the FBI file for John Kasper, the Ku Klux Klan member suspected in a number of bombings across the South.

Record Contributed By

Tennesse State Library and Archives

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Tennessee