Kay Patterson, who rose from janitor at segregated South Carolina capitol to state senator, dies

The South Carolina Democratic Party says former state Sen. Kay Patterson has died. Patterson rose from cleaning offices at the segregated Statehouse to serving as a state legislator for over 30 years. He died on Friday and 93 years old. Patterson was born in 1931 in Darlington County and raised by his grandmothers. He served in the military before getting his teaching degree through the GI Bill at Allen University. While in college, he cleaned offices in the Statehouse where he and other Black people couldn’t be unless they were working. Patterson spent 30 years in education, then served in the South Carolina House from 1975 to 1985 and Senate from 1985 to 2009.