Today in Black History: October 3rd
1901 – Frederick Douglas Patterson Is Born
Frederick Douglass Patterson, born on October 10, 1901, was an influential American educator and leader in the Black community. He served as president of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) from 1935 to 1953 and founded the United Negro College Fund in 1944.
Patterson earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine and a Master of Science from Iowa State College, later obtaining a Ph.D. from Cornell University. He taught at Virginia State College before joining Tuskegee in 1928, where he advanced the veterinary division and directed the School of Agriculture. Under his leadership, Tuskegee introduced new programs in dietetics, veterinary medicine, and commercial aviation, contributing to the formation of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Patterson’s United Negro College Fund supports historically Black colleges and aids thousands of students. He also led the Phelps Stokes Fund and created the College Endowment Funding Plan. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1987.
1917 – Thelonious Monk Is Born
Thelonious Monk born October 10, 1917, was a groundbreaking jazz pianist and a key figure in 20th-century music. Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, he moved to New York City in 1922 and began playing piano without formal training. Influenced by gospel and street music, he later studied at Juilliard.
At 17, Monk toured as an organist with an evangelist and by the early 1940s was performing in New York jazz groups, eventually becoming the house player at Minton’s Playhouse. Collaborating with jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, he helped develop the bebop style.
Monk’s first recordings emerged in the 1940s, featuring unique compositions that incorporated silence and dissonance. His breakthrough album, Brilliant Corners (1956), marked his commercial success. Despite a later retreat from public life, he received significant accolades posthumously, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Special Citation Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2006.
