Frederick Douglass Patterson (October 10, 1901 – April 26, 1988) was an American academic administrator, the president of what is now Tuskegee University (1935–1953), and founder of the United Negro College Fund (1944, UNCF).

She dedicated nearly half her $20 monthly salary to enroll him in the private elementary school of Samuel Huston College (currently Huston-Tillotson University).

He was the only African American working at the Iowa State College veterinary clinic, where he learned important personal lessons about race and society.

[9] While director of the Veterinary Division, the program attracted even white students due to its prestige, a rare occurrence for an HBCU in the segregated South.

All of these programs uniquely situated African Americans and Tuskegee University in a position where they could provide highly skilled interns for prestigious internships in emerging fields.

Patterson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan on June 23, 1987, in recognition of his lifetime of leadership and success in the educational field.

Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, his alma mater, has created two scholarships in his honor celebrating diversity and inclusion.