A Woman Worth Remembering

People call Crawfordsville the Athens of Indiana because of its rich art history. The obvious claim to fame is Lew Wallace penning Ben Hur here. The county is also home to famed painters like Rob O’Dell, entertainers like Dick Van Dyke and puzzlers like Will Shortz. But it’s also the hometown to some of the state’s, nation’s and world’s talented musicians. Without Black History Month celebrations, many might miss out on the joyous “aha!” when learning that Bill Coleman, Wilbur and Sidney De Paris began their musical careers here.

It’s challenging to build a thriving artistic career in the Ohio Valley, though artist Rob O’Dell among others and writers including Wendell Berry, Scott Russell Sanders, Philip Gulley, Gregory Williams, Ashley C. Ford and John Green built thriving careers here. Indiana boasts of being the home to musicians like the Jackson family, Kenneth “Baby Face” Edmonds, and “Wes” Montgomery. Montgomery County’s Lincoln School educated jazz musicians like Coleman, the De Paris brothers and Blanche Patterson.

While Coleman, like many black artists including author James Baldwin and entertainer / spy Josephine Baker, moved to France where he found refuge from segregation, one of MoCo’s own, Blanche Patterson remained an influential artist in Indiana.

According to Nikole Poletika of the Indiana State Historical Society, “Blanche Patterson achieved local success in music and was an officer of the Indiana State Association of Negro Musicians. Her obituary stated she ‘developed a state-wide reputation as a musician’ and ‘organized a program which brought numerous Negro instrumental and vocal music groups to Crawfordsville.”

Patterson impacted the state’s musical community but her legacy remains strongest in Montgomery County, where she ran several businesses and worshipped at Bethel AME, which her grandparents, Mariah Gates Patterson and Nelson Patterson, helped found. Born in 1884, Patterson attended Bethel AME for most of her life.

In her religious upbringing, music mattered. As a young girl, she participated in musical performances in opera, and in 1898 she played the Lohengrin Wedding March for a wedding, where she also performed the piano solo from “Rigoletto.”

Patterson attended the Lincoln School for Children before she graduated from Central High School in June 1902. She continued her education at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio. The HBC had faced closure in the face of the Civil War, but the national AME Church bought it. Patterson often returned to Wilberforce for its graduation ceremonies.

After graduation, she joined a traveling gospel show and then returned to Crawfordsville to care for her sick mother.  In the early 1910s she taught at the Lincoln School for about $75 a week. Later she opened the Petite Beauty Shop. Launched in the Ben Hur Building, she could only serve white clients, according to a local paper. According to historical research by Poletika, the Indianapolis Recorder described the salon as “one of the finest beauty parlors in the State.” Additionally, she was a member of the National Beauty Culture League of Indiana.

It was a good time to be in beauty in Indiana. Madame CJ Walker brought her business to Indiana in 1910 and became the first black woman millionaire with an influential presence regionally and nationally.  In 1919, the year Walker died, the National Beauty Culture League of Indiana, in which Patterson was active, was instituted to bring high standards in beauty industry conduct and promoted science-based hair, scalp and skin treatments. Patterson was often the keynote speaker at meetings and conferences.

Patterson expanded her business by becoming a chiropodist. The local paper indicates that “at least as late as the 1930s, a podiatrist could refer to someone performing foot massages or foot care.” What’s uncertain is whether her podiatry credentials were from her beauty school training or medical training. Her clients remembered her for her kindness. Black and white citizens in the community remembered her as taking care of others.

 A black community leader, she belonged to several lodges and the local NAACP, where she often served as president and secretary. She stayed active in the church missionary society. She continued playing piano and entertaining at fundraisers, as well as leading discussions and activities that promoted and improved the welfare of Crawfordsville’s black community.

As the U.S. faced World War II, Patterson spoke about club women in national defense to the central district meeting of the Indiana State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, a nonprofit group of like-minded black women.  She was a member of and on the executive board of the local branch of the NAACP. She served the organization as its vice president and as secretary, even after she retired from her business.

Patterson’s life ended tragically on a cold, snowy day in February 1965. Driving to Jasper to care for some friends, her car skidded on an icy road and collided with an oncoming truck, badly injuring her. She was returned to Crawfordsville’s Culver Hospital. She was 80 years old at the time. She died on Feb. 25, 1965 and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery. Most of her assets were left to support a home for the elderly in Indianapolis.

Patterson’s story is one of many that came out of the Lincoln School, the history of which was documented by historians Shannon Hudson and Vicke Swisher-Hudson (no relation). Her story inspired them both. Swisher-Hudson, a member at Bethel AME, laments never hearing Patterson during the years she played the organ for services at the church. Her influence remains powerful in the community.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, multi-issue political organization which encourages informed and active participation in government. For information about the League, visit the website www.lwvmontcoin.org; or, visit the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, Indiana Facebook page.