Born in Washington, D.C., Frederick Patterson earned degrees from Prairie View State College in 1919 and Iowa State College in 1923 and 1927. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1923. Patterson was made the director of agriculture at Virginia State College and then served from 1928 to 1933 as head of the veterinary division at the Tuskegee Institute. In 1933 he was promoted to the directorship of Tuskegee's School of Agriculture. He became president of Tuskegee in 1935.

Source:
Who’s Who in Colored America . Ed. Thomas Yenser. 5 th ed. Thomas Yenser: New York, 1940. pg. 400.