Former South Carolina Sen. Kay Patterson, a stalwart fighter for civil rights during more than three decades at the Statehouse, died Friday at age 93. Patterson, first elected to the House of Representatives in 1974,

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former South Carolina Sen. Kay Patterson, who rose from cleaning offices at the segregated Statehouse to serving as a state legislator for over 30 years died Friday. He was 93.

Kay Patterson, a former schoolteacher and one of the first Black lawmakers to rise to the South Carolina Senate in the years after Reconstruction, has died at the age of 93.

A man who served in the South Carolina House and then in the Senate for more than 30 years has died, the state’s Democratic Party has confirmed.

A former Democratic state lawmaker from Darlington County has died. Kay Patterson, 93, represented the state’s 19th Senate District from 1985 through 2008 and was a member of the state House Representatives from 1975 to 1985.