About

1.5 cubic feet; photographic, printed, manuscript.
80 gelatin silver prints
850 4x5 negatives approx.
440 120mm negatives approx.

Collection Description

Roy Leandrew Patton, Jr., a photographer, businessman, and civic leader, was born 1927 in Dallas, Texas to Minnie Kate and Roy Leandrew Patton, Sr. He was raised and attended schools in Dallas. After high school he attended Prairie View A&M College.

Patton was a lifelong resident of Dallas and owned and operated a public relations firm, Southwest Associates. One of his largest clients was Prairie View A&M College. Active in youth work, he was a Boy Scout leader, YMCA assistant, and helped to organize camera clubs at the three black high schools of Dallas.

He was an active community photographer whose photographs were published in Life and other magazines and won numerous awards in local and regional contests.

Patton belonged to a Baptist church and was active in the Esquire Social and Civic Club, the Bronze Knights Civic and Social Clubs, and in the Boy Scouts and YMCA. Roy Patton, Jr. died of a heart attack January 10, 1961, and was buried in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery.

The collection consists of photographic prints, negatives, and slide transparencies, primarily made by Roy Patton. Photographs document African American life and culture in Dallas and the experience of African Americans in the U. S. Army Air Corps. One small series of photographs not made by Patton documents African American pilots at Tuskegee Army Airfield and other bases; most are official photographs by the U. S. Army Air Corps Training Command.

Other Roy Patton, Jr. photographs are located at the Archives of the African American Museum of Dallas and are available to the public for research.

Arrangement: arranged by subject matter and format.

Copyright and permissions: use in educational research and publication only. Permission from TAAP Archive required.

Source: TAAP Archive Acquisition Fund