Thelonious Sphere Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was born on October 10, 1917, at 815 Green Street, also known as Red Row. He was the son of Thelonious Monk of Sampson County, whose forebears were enslaved on the Archibald Monk and Willis Cole plantations near Newton Grove, and Barbara Batts Monk of Edgecombe County, whose forebears were enslaved on the Batts plantation east of Tarboro. In 1922, Barbara Monk moved with her three children, including young Thelonious, to New York City. Thelonious Sr. joined the family there but returned after a few years and lived with his sister at 124 Dunn Street. Although his son never returned here to Around the Y, when he came to perform in Raleigh in May 1970, he said, "I'm from Rocky Mount."

Rocky Mount, North Carolina · United States