Zxlema B. V. Patton was born in Claiborne, Mississippi, on 18 December 1899 to Edward H. Patton, a “farmer” on the “college farm” (likely Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College), and Lenora Palmer Patton, a postmaster. Zxlema was the twin sister of Lenora Patton Williams, another ISC alumna. Zxlema completed high school in the Alcorn State pre-collegiate program and earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Home Economics from Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia in 1921. Following graduation, she taught home economics in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, most likely at the newly built African-American K-12 Eureka school there. She was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and in 1937 she completed a Master’s of Science degree in Home Economics Education at Iowa State College. Her thesis, entitled Responsibilities and Training of Negro Home Economics Teachers in the High Schools of Mississippi, detailed the teacher training, major school activities undertaken, and issues surrounding 48 home economics teachers of African descent. Four years after graduation from college, Zxlema gave birth to her son Phillip, who later appears in the 1940 census as Phillip M. Smith. While no record of a marriage to a “Mr. Smith” has yet been found, Zxlema herself used the name “Smith” when she enrolled at Iowa State. In the 1940 Census, however, she was listed as “Zxlema Price” and Bolton C. Price, whom she married on 24 December 1937 in Arkansas, was living with her and Phillip with Zxlema’s brother’s family in Alcorn. She and Bolton were both employed at Alcorn State for a time; he, as a school teacher, she, in home economics.” She later served as president of the Negro Home Economics Association of Mississippi. Working for Alcorn for a number of years, she was later recorded as serving as an “Itinerant Teacher and Trainer in Home Economics.” On 14 September 1992, she died in California, where her son Phillip and, later, his family lived.
Iowa State College Dissertation Title: Responsibilities and training of Negro home economics teachers in the high schools of Mississippi, 1937
Iowa State University Catalog Record:https://quicksearch.lib.iastate.edu/permalink/01IASU_INST/174tg9m/alma990009529460102756
