Dr. Patton: A Pioneering Educator
Dr. Marvin Dulaney
Dr. John Leslie Patton was one of the most important educators in the life of our nation. A native of Dallas, he was raised within walking distance of the school which he one day would serve as an exemplary principal for three decades.
Born in 1905, Dr. Patton attended a school system that was segregated by race. He was among the first students to attend Booker T. Washington High School, a new school for
African Americans, which had previously been named the Dallas Colored High School.
A superior student with a prudent mind and strong will, Dr. Patton pursued his undergraduate degree at Prairie View A & M College, the state’s only publicly supported college for African-American students. After graduating in 1926, he journeyed to New York where he earned a graduate degree at New York University, one of the country’s premier academic institutions. In 1928, he returned to Dallas to teach history at Booker T. Washington, his alma mater.
A masterful teacher and scholar, in 1933, while teaching at Booker T. Washington, Dr. Patton developed the first course in “Negro History” in the Dallas Independent School District. He collaborated with his school’s principal, Virgil Williams, to develop “A Student Guide for the Study of Negro History.”
Six years later, Dr. Patton and principal H. I. Holland revised the Negro History curriculum so that it could be studied in every school that African Americans attended in the Dallas Independent School System. It was recognized as a major accomplishment, and it informed all students and administrators of the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans in North Texas, and throughout the world.
Dr. Patton’s tenure as principal of Booker T. Washington began a renaissance in education in Dallas. During the 30 years that he headed the school it produced some of the finest students in the history of the school system. It students were known for their personal and academic excellence.
Not only did Dr. Patton promulgate the teaching of Negro history, but he also developed and emphasized the importance of industrial education courses in order to provide Booker T. Washington students with training in some of the emerging vocational and technical skills that were greatly needed after the Second World War.
Recognized by others for his outstanding leadership and vision, in 1968 Dr. Patton became the first African-American administrator in the Dallas Independent School District. Appointed as an Assist Superintendent under Dr. Nolan Estes, he was in charge of community relations and supervised the school districts effort to become compliment with the landmark Brown V. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that ruled that state laws that established separate public schools for black and white students violated the United States Constitution.
Shortly before his death in 1971, Dr. Patton fought efforts by DISD administrators to teach black history as a separate course in the school system. He argued that the history of African Americans should be incorporated into the system’s permanent history and social studies curriculum.
