Biography
William L. Patterson was the Black executive secretary of the Civil Rights Congress and author of the petition 'We Charge Genocide,' jailed for contempt for refusing to produce CRC membership records demanded by the government in its drive to destroy the organization. He served three months at West Street before the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed his conviction in January 1955, holding he could not be jailed for invoking his privilege against self-incrimination.
Hastings-trained lawyer who defended Sacco and Vanzetti, led the International Labor Defense's Scottsboro Boys campaign, and as executive secretary of the Civil Rights Congress co-authored and presented the petition "We Charge Genocide" to the United Nations in Paris on December 17, 1951. The State Department forced him to surrender his passport. Subpoenaed by HUAC and SISS multiple times in 1950; held in contempt of Congress and served two consecutive 90-day federal sentences in 1954-55 for refusing to disclose CRC donor lists.
