William L. Patterson was a leader in the Communist Party USA

Communist Party USA

The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....

 and head of the International Labor Defense

International Labor Defense

The International Labor Defense was a legal defense organization in the United States, headed by William L. Patterson. It was a US section of International Red Aid organisation, and associated with the Communist Party USA. It defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active in the civil rights and...

, a group that offered legal representation to communists, trade unionists, and African-Americans in cases involving issues of political or racial persecution. On August 22, 1927, he was among the 156 arrestees protesting the execution of immigrant anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Patterson was later active in the Civil Rights Congress

Civil Rights Congress

The Civil Rights Congress was a civil rights organization formed in 1946 by a merger of the International Labor Defense and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. It became known for involvement in civil rights cases such as the Trenton Six and justice for Isaiah Nixon. The CRC...

, and in 1951 presented a document, We Charge Genocide

We Charge Genocide

"We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against the Negro People", often shorted to "We Charge Genocide", was a petition presented to the United Nations in 1951, arguing that the U.S...

, to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, charging the U.S. federal government with complicity in genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

 for failing to take action against lynching in the United States

Lynching in the United States

Lynching, the practice of killing people by extrajudicial mob action, occurred in the United States chiefly from the late 18th century through the 1960s. Lynchings took place most frequently in the South from 1890 to the 1920s, with a peak in the annual toll in 1892.It is associated with...

.

Biography

Patterson was the first African-American graduate of Tamalpais High School

Tamalpais High School

Tamalpais High School is a public secondary school located in Mill Valley, California. It is named after nearby Mount Tamalpais, which rises more than above Mill Valley....

, Mill Valley, California

Mill Valley, California

Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. The population was 13,903 at the 2010 census.Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay...

, in 1911. In the yearbook, his stated ambition was "to be a second Booker T. Washington". He was married to Louise Thompson Patterson

Louise Thompson Patterson

Louise Alone Thompson Patterson was an American social activist and college professor.-Biography:...

. He died in 1980.