Patricia Stephens Due
Patricia Stephens Due was one of the leading AfricanAmerican civil rights activists in the United States, especially in her home state of Florida. Along with her sister Priscilla and others trained in nonviolent protest by CORE, Due spent 49 days in one of the nations first jailin, refusing to pay a fine for sitting in a Woolworths White only lunch counter in Tallahassee, Florida in 1960. Her eyes were damaged by tear gas used by police on students marching to protest such arrests, and she wore dark glasses for the rest of her life. She served in many leadership roles in CORE and the NAACP, fighting against segregated stores, buses, theaters, schools, restaurants, and hotels, protesting unjust laws, and leading one of the most dangerous voter registration efforts in the country in northern Florida in the 1960s.
Patricia Stephens was born on December 9, 1939 in Quincy, Florida to Lottie Mae and Horace Walter Stephens. She was the second of three children. In 1963, she married Florida AampM University law student John D. Due, Jr., who went on to become a prominent civil rights attorney. The couple had three daughters.
Source: Wikipedia