Hugh Patterson, Jr., pioneer black Arkansas newspaper publisher, dies at 91

Hugh Patterson, Jr., pioneer black Arkansas newspaper publisher, dies at 91

By The Associated Press
Hugh B. Patterson, Jr., whose 38 years as publisher of the Arkansas Gazette included the Central High School desegregation crisis, died on May 29 at the age of 91.

Patterson was publisher of the Gazette from 1948 to 1986, when the newspaper was sold to Gannett Co. The Gazette won two Pulitzer Prizes in 1958, one for its news coverage of Central High and the other for editorials.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Publisher Walter E. Hussman Jr. said Patterson's greatest achievement was the Gazette's coverage of the Central High desegregation. ”It was a difficult time, and he certainly responded,'' Hussman said.

The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were unconstitutional.

“I said, Well, of course, it's got to be recognized that the Supreme Court decision was the only decision that could have been made,'' Patterson later recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. “We have to recognize that this is a transitional time in terms of public policy and it will, perhaps, take some time for that to be realized, but there's just no option to this. It's a fundamental matter.''

In September 1957, nine black students braved angry white mobs to attend Central High. Gov. Orval Faubus had called out the National Guard to prevent black children from attending the previously all-white school, but President Eisenhower sent Army troops to escort the youngsters into the school and maintain order.

Patterson “was absolutely vital to leading the paper to the position it held: Obey the law and the court decision,'' said Roy Reed, a former Gazette reporter who now is professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Reed also wrote for The New York Times as a national and foreign correspondent.

During Patterson's time leading the Gazette, the paper added more news sections, began running stock tables and began running color comics on Sundays.

Gannett Co. bought the Gazette in 1986, then closed it in 1991 and sold the name and its assets to Little Rock Newspapers Inc., now called Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Inc.

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