Orlando Patterson

Horace Orlando Patterson (born 5 June 1940) is a Jamaican-American historian and sociologist known for his work on the history of race and slavery in the United States and Jamaica, as well as the sociology of development.

He is currently the John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University.

Horace Orlando Patterson was born on 5 June 1940 in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica, to Almina Morris and Charles A. Patterson.

His parents were strong supporters of Jamaica’s People National Party, the political party he grew up to serve a few decades later.

His father was a local detective while his mother became a seamstress.

He had six half-siblings on his father's side but was his mother’s only child.

He grew up in Clarendon Parish in the small town of May Pen.

He attended primary school there, then moved to Kingston to attend Kingston College.

While attending Kingston College, Patterson won a Jamaica Government Exhibition scholarship in 1958.

Before matriculating in 1959, he taught for a year at the Excelsior High School in Jamaica.

He went on to earn a BSc in Economics with a concentration in Sociology from the University of the West Indies, Mona, in 1962.

He served as president of the Economics Society, president of the Literary Society and editor of the student magazine 'the Pelican'.

He also wrote for the recently founded New Left Review, his first work being "The Essays of James Baldwin" in 1964.

Patterson earned his PhD in sociology at the London School of Economics in 1965, where he wrote his PhD thesis, the Sociology of Slavery.

His dissertation adviser was David Glass.

While in London he was associated with the Caribbean Artists Movement, whose second meeting, in January 1967, was held at the Pattersons' North London flat.

Earlier in his career, Patterson was concerned with the economic and political development of his home country, Jamaica.

He served as special advisor to Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1972 to 1979 while serving as a tenured professor at Harvard University.

Committed to working both jobs, Patterson split his time between Jamaica and the United States.

He often flew to Jamaica the day after his last lecture.

Patterson is best known for his work on the relationship between slavery and social death, which he has worked on extensively and written several books about.

Other contributions include historical sociology and fictional writing with themes of post-colonialism.

Patterson has also spent time analyzing social science's scholarship and ethical considerations.

Patterson currently holds the John Cowles Chair in sociology at Harvard University.

Patterson's 1991 book Freedom in the Making of Western Culture won the U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction.

In October 2015 he received the Gold Musgrave Medal in recognition of his contribution to literature.

In 2020 he was appointed a member of the Order of Merit, Jamaica's third-highest national honour.