THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE
"To Hew Out Of The Mountain Of Despair A Stone Of Hope."
Governor Deval L. Patrick was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 31, 1956. His father, Laurdine “Pat” Patrick, a musician, left the family when Patrick was young. Patrick was raised by his mother, Emily Wintersmith Patrick, near the Robert Taylor Homes on Chicago's South Side. In the eighth grade, Patrick was given a scholarship by A Better Chance to attend Milton Academy outside of Boston. Patrick then was accepted to Harvard University, where he earned his A.B. degree in English and American literature in 1978.
After college, Patrick worked in the Sudan for the United Nations on a Rockefeller Fellowship. He returned to the United States in 1979 and enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he earned his J.D. degree in 1982. After working as a clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Los Angeles for one year, Patrick moved to New York City and joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. There, he filed a lawsuit in a voting rights case against then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. Patrick remained with the NAACP until 1986, when he joined the Boston law firm Hill & Barlow, where he eventually became partner. He continued his civil rights work, and in 1994, President Clinton appointed Patrick to the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. In this role, Patrick worked to ensure that federal laws banning discrimination were enforced. He also oversaw an investigation into a series of church burnings throughout the South. In 1997, after three years with the Clinton Administration, Patrick returned to private practice with the Boston law firm Day, Berry & Howard where he focused his efforts on major commercial litigation and civil rights compliance issues. Patrick then joined Texaco in 1999 as vice president and general counsel and in 2001 he became executive vice president and general counsel for the Coca-Cola Company. Patrick left Coca-Cola in 2005. In 2006, he was elected the governor of Massachusetts, a position he held until 2015. He was the first African American governor of Massachusetts and the second African American governor in the country since Reconstruction. As governor, Patrick oversaw health care reform, increased funding for education and life sciences, overhauled state transportation, increased the state sales tax, raised the state's minimum wage, and planned the introduction of casinos. After his governorship, Patrick joined Bain Capital, ran for U.S. president in 2020, and became a professor and co-director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School.
Patrick has served on the boards of Our Generation Speaks, Reebok International, Coca-Cola, A Better Chance, the Ford Foundation, Harvard University, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Patrick is also the recipient of numerous awards and seven honorary degrees.
Patrick and his wife, Diane Bemus Patrick, live in Boston. They have two children, Sarah Patrick and Katherine Patrick.
Governor Deval L. Patrick was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on October 14, 2004, October 17, 2022, and April 28, 2023.