By Terri Bryce Reeves, Times Correspondent Terri Bryce ReevesTampa Bay Times In Print: Friday, September 21, 2012

CLEARWATER

In 1961, Ernest "Rip" Patton Jr. was a 21-year-old drum major in the Tennessee State University marching band. He made history that year, but it wasn't for swinging a baton.

He was part of a group that would come to be known as the Freedom Riders. They were nonviolent protesters men and women, black and white, young and old who boarded buses and risked their lives to challenge Jim Crow laws in the segregated South. On Tuesday, Patton told U.S. history students at Countryside High School what life was like when blacks were prohibited from eating at lunch counters and fully using public facilities. He stressed the importance of the nonviolent protests.

"What we did in the '60s, we did for you," said Patton in his deep, serene voice. "We did it for our generation and generations to come.

"Now I want to ask, what are you going to do for your generation?"

Patton is 72 now. His hair is snowy white. But his memories are still vivid and he's eager to share them as he travels around the country, speaking to everyone he can from students in an auditorium to talk show hosts including Oprah Winfrey.

The stop at Countryside High was one of 13 planned visits to Pinellas County schools this week. The Freedom Rider talks were arranged by Linda Whitley, supervisor of the school system's social studies department.

In June, she and 28 other Pinellas County teachers retraced part of the route of the Freedom Riders through four Southern states, visiting museums and historical sites along the way. The trip was made possible by a federally funded Teaching American History grant. During the trip, she and the others got to know Patton and invited him to speak.

During his talk, the Nashville resident recounted how blacks and their white supporters were beaten, bullied and imprisoned during the Freedom Rides in 1961.

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Freedom Rider tells Pinellas students about a summer of protests in 1961