Christopher Nelson

Christopher Nelson is the award-winning author of "The C.R. Patterson and Sons Company: Black Pioneers in the Vehicle Building Industry, 1865-1939." While primarily known for becoming the first Black-owned automobile manufacturer when they built their first car in 1915, the Patterson story of overcoming obstacles and breaking color barriers extends into many areas such as education, sports, business, politics, and helping Booker T. Washington in founding the Negro Business League. Mr. Nelson originally conducted the research as part of a 2009 master’s thesis, which has now been majorly redeveloped and expanded into a book released in 2022. Based on the research for the book, plans are currently underway by a film production company to bring the Patterson story to the big screen.

Mr. Nelson has a background in Archaeology and History and has worked in those fields for nearly two decades. He has a strong interest in the history of transportation, particularly during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and has worked on multiple projects within this topic during his career, from both a historical and an archaeological perspective.

Mr. Nelson has taken a recent interest in expanding his storytelling activities. This has come through various stages of involvement in filmmaking. Mr. Nelson is serving or has served in the role of Executive Producer or Associate Producer on several films including both feature length and short films. Mr. Nelson resides just outside of Nashville, Tennessee.

For further information about the book and Mr. Nelson, please visit: www.crpattersonandsonscompanybook.us

AWARDS

The second edition of the book on the Patterson story, which was released in 2022, was named as the WINNER in the History: General category of the 2022 American Writing Awards. The book placed as FINALIST in three additional categories of the competition under the Best New (Debut) Nonfiction, History: United States, and Biography categories. In the 2022 Best Book Awards competition, sponsored by American Book Fest, the book was named FINALIST in the History: United States and the History: General categories.