Jessica interviewed Dr. Nina Patterson and Fannie Taylor together.

Markisha Motton

Tamika Lee

Deanna Carr

Jessica Austin

Tiera Campbell

Yakera Barbee

Veronica Martin

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Dr. Nina Patterson is the daughter of Fannie Taylor (pictured right). Nina was among the first group of African American students to be bused from her neighborhood in the north to schools in south Champaign.  Dr. Patterson earned her Ph. D. from San Francisco State University.  Her mother, Ms. Fannie Taylor, raised Dr. Patterson, and her brother, Dr. William Patterson, as a single mother.  Ms. Taylor moved from the south to Champaign in the 1950s and attended schools here.

listen to the entire interview

read the interview transcript

Interview highlights (Nina Patterson):

"Everyone in my community was bused...and it seemed kind of odd that we didn't go to the school that was in our community..."

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"I grew up without parents. My grandmother was my provider...she could not read, she could not write...helping her helped me."

"My brother...Edison Middle School dropped him in the lower level of the school in the basement in the corner with all the other black males...much of what he was able to receive in education was after he got home ."

"My work through a social service agency, to work with kids, teachers, school administrators...I knew what they were looking at because I knew how they were treating my clients."

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