Interview with Mary Patten

Length: 91 minutes Oral history interview of Mary Patten by Blair Allen Mishleau Mary Patten talks about her experiences during the 1960s and how the assassination of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy contributed to her consciousness. She describes wanting to be in the fight for equality at an early age by remembering her mother not letting go of her hand during to a protest during that time. Patten then describes the environment of her college education and its effect on her activism and her beliefs in equality. She mentions her role in Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and elaborates on how the organization was structured. Patten explains the extremes of that activism world in the SDS and how she transferred schools. Patten recaps how the South African Apartheid government was brought to her attention and the reaction she had, such as joining a group at New York Women’s School, and being on various political prisoner defense committees. She describes her involvement with a graphic collective group, Madame Binh Graphic Collection, where she was part of many different activist organizations all fighting in different ways for the Anti-apartheid movement. Patten mentions the protest surrounding the Springboks, South Africa’s rugby team, and how other countries fought against the presence of the South African Apartheid government at the games. She recounts her the details from her protest that resulted in a court case and time in the Rikers Island prison in New York