Horace Orlando Patterson OM (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.

[2] Horace Orlando Patterson was born on 5 June 1940 in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica,[3][4] to Almina Morris and Charles A.

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

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

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

Patterson focuses interests on the culture and practice of freedom, comparative study of slavery and ethno-racial relationships, sociological issues relating to underdeveloped areas in which he references the Caribbean and gender and family relations of black societies.