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Leader of America’s First Jail-in, Patricia Due, passes at 72

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Patricia Due2

When most people think of Civil rights hero’s they automatically think of Martin Luther King, jr and Rosa Parks.  But as we all know, there are others who helped contribute to the Civil Rights movement.

Accomplishments:

  • When Patricia S. Due was 20 years old, she led the first jail-in which received national attention and recognition from Martin Luther King, Jr.  Due was accompanied by her sister and six other students who attended Florida Agricultural & mechanical University.
  • Due spent 49 days in jail after taking part in a peaceful sit-in and refusing to leave a Woolworth lunch counter in Tallahassee, FL.
  • Due founded and organized a local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality with her sister.  her duties included organization and supervising voter drives and registration in Florida.
  • Due and her sit-in got the support of James Baldwin, harry belafonte, MLK, Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt.
  • Tallahassee’s mayor recognized her lifetime of achievement, and proclaimed May 11, 2011 Patricia Stephens Due Day

Patricia passed away on February 2, 2012 after two long years of battling thyroid cancer.

Patricia Due is survived by her husband, John Due (civil rights activist), three children Tananarive Due (a professor and writer), Johnita Patricia Due (CNN’s chief diversity chair and assistant general counsel) and Lydia Due Greisz (a Dallas attorney) her sister, Priscilla Stephens Kruize, a brother Walter Stephens, and five grandchildren.

Patricia Due

Patricia Due3

(Source)

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