Morgan Jones, Graduate Assistant – Page 2

Karen Parker: A Woman to Remember

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we here at University Archives can think of many women from the Carolina community to celebrate. There’s Cornelia Phillips Spencer, for example, who rang the bell in celebration of the university’s reopening in 1875. … Continue reading →

The cover of Karen Parker's notebook from her time at UNC. The Karen L. Parker Diary, Letter and Clippings, Folder 1, #05275-z, The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library.

The cover of Karen Parker’s notebook from her time at UNC. (Karen L. Parker Diary, Letter and Clippings, #05275-z, The Southern Historical Collection.)

A woman you may not remember by name is Karen Lynn Parker. Karen Parker was the first African-American woman to attend and graduate from UNC Chapel Hill as an undergraduate student. In the fall of 1963, Karen Parker transferred to UNC from the Greensboro Women’s College and began her studies in journalism. In 1964, Parker was elected as vice president of the UNC Press Club. She also served as the editor of the UNC Journalist, the School of Journalism’s newspaper, in that year. Achievements aside, Karen Parker’s time at UNC was far from smooth sailing.

The first entry of her diary on November 5, 1963, began with her own reflections on the freedom marches. Her next diary entry on November 22 related her shock and sadness at the assassination of President Kennedy. On campus, she wrote that classes were called off and tests were cancelled. Even the Duke-Carolina game and the Beat Dook parade (which had been an annual event since 1950) were struck from the calendar. On November 24, Karen Parker wrote in her journal that she felt “insecure, unsafe” and that the “future looks quite uncertain.”

However uncertain the future looked, Parker took hold of the present. As part of her activism with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), she often spent time in jail. In her entry of December 18, she wrote: “On Saturday, the 14th, I decided to go to jail [….] We went to Leo’s, were arrested, and hauled to jail.” Leo’s was a restaurant in downtown Chapel Hill whose segregation policy Parker and others protested.

2 March 1964 drawing of the inside of the Orange County Superior Court in Hillsborough, NC. From the Karen L. Parker Diary, Letter and Clippings, #05275-z, folder 1, the Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library.

Drawing of the inside of the Orange County Superior Court in Hillsborough, NC, March 2, 1964. (Karen L. Parker Diary, Letter and Clippings, #05275-z, the Southern Historical Collection.)

As time wore on, Parker continued to demonstrate and protest against segregation with other students and members of CORE. As CORE was accused of communist leanings, and the university began to threaten student demonstrators with expulsion, Karen Parker felt her faith in Carolina waver as she wondered about the future. Though summoned before the Women’s Honor Council in early 1964, Karen Parker remained firm: “They were going to have to expel me because I wasn’t going to give up.”

And Karen Parker did not give up. She went on to graduate from UNC Chapel Hill in 1965 with a BA in Journalism. So, as we remember the women that have made Carolina great, we should not forget Karen Parker. As Eve Carson said, “it’s us—the student body—who make Carolina what it is.” Thank you, Karen, for being one of many who have made Carolina what it is today.

(Access the Finding Aid for the Karen L. Parker Diary, Letter, and Clippings here: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/p/Parker,Karen_L.html.)

“An Infernal Passion Undying”

If you read the Daily Tar Heel, you’ve likely read Ian Williams’ iconic column “Why I Hate Duke.” The Daily Tar Heel usually highlights the piece before our first basketball game of the year against Duke. The article is essentially … Continue reading →

If you read the Daily Tar Heel, you’ve likely read Ian Williams’ iconic column “Why I Hate Duke.” The Daily Tar Heel usually highlights the piece before our first basketball game of the year against Duke. The article is essentially the Carolina student’s guide to hating that dark, blue school to the North both on and off the basketball court. In his article, Williams states that he hates Duke with an “infernal passion undying.” Many of us feel that way in light of our recent loss, but just how long has the Carolina community loved to loathe our adversary?

The answer is long before that archenemy was actually named Duke University!

Written to be sung to the tune of Little Marie, this song was from William Starr Myers book that documented much of his poetry and writing from his time at UNC. From folder 15, Box 2 of the William Starr Myers Papers, collection #03260, in the Southern Historical Collection, the Wilson Library.

Written to be sung to the tune of “Sweet Marie,” this song can be found in William Starr Myers’s notebook documenting much of his writing during his time at UNC. (Folder 15, Box 2, of the William Starr Myers Papers, #03260, Southern Historical Collection.)

That’s right. UNC has the distinction of hating Duke before they became a full-fledged university and was simply known as Trinity College. Let that sink in for a minute.

For the football game against Trinity College on the 24th of October 1894, William Starr Myers (an editor for The Tar Heel, the forerunner of The Daily Tar Heel) wrote several poems to commemorate the day. One of his songs began:

“I’ve a secret to impart Trinity/We’re going to break your heart Trinity;/And you’ll think that Judgment Day,/Is’nt [sic] very far away, when the Referee calls ‘Play’ Trinity./You will see Trinity, Trinity how it will be/That your faces fearful sights are to see/Every star that studs the sky/Then will wink the other eye, and bid you/’Go & die,’ Trinity.”

A float from the 1951 Beat Dook parade showing a Tar Heel Ram eating a bowl of Duke cereal for breakfast. (P0033/0040, the Roland Giduz Photograph Collection, the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives.)

The rivalry with Duke has a long history, which has taken various forms over the years. For instance, between 1950 and 1965 there was an annual “Beat Dook” Parade held on Franklin Street near the end of November.

As we anxiously await the rematch on March 9, I think it’s safe to say that yes…our Carolina community truly does hate Duke with “an infernal passion undying.” And many of us wouldn’t have it any other way.

Fire Again!

We hope that everyone is enjoying the new semester. Hopefully you’re getting back into the swing of things without too much trouble. If everything is going well, congratulations! It turns out that you are much luckier than some of your … Continue reading →

From 14 December 1929, the Daily Tar Heel, Vol. 38, Number 71, in the North Carolina Collection.

In fact, from the very beginning of the school year, various fraternities on UNC’s campus had some pretty rotten luck. First, there were growing financial concerns and then the great stock market crash of 1929. Male students were in the position of not being able to afford being in a fraternity unless they took out a loan. Despite all of this, though, fraternities accepted a healthy number of bids that fall semester, and luck seemed to be on their side.

From the 11 January 1930, the Daily Tar Heel, Vol. 38, Number 77, in the North Carolina Collection.

Their luck ran out, however, at the end of the fall semester. On Thursday, December 12, 1937 (a day before Friday the 13^th), the Delta Sigma Phi house of Old Fraternity Row was almost completely destroyed in a fire early that morning. When the members of the house woke up and realized the house was on fire, they attempted to call the fire department but could not be connected because the fire chief was already having a conversation of his own. Consequently, several members had to drive down to the station to alert the chief in person. At the time, the chief said that he heard a car beeping its horn like mad and immediately thought it was a rum runner being chased by the authorities. By the time the fire was extinguished, most clothes and furniture could be saved, and it was lucky that the nine men sleeping in the house had escaped with their lives.

From 8 January 1930, the Daily Tar Heel, Vol. 38, Number 74, in the North Carolina Collection.

Delta Sigma Phi did not hold the distinction of being the only fraternity house that burned down that year though. The Daily Tar Heel was beginning to make daily quips about old fraternity row as the “hot section of town.” The Chi Psi fraternity house also burned down that winter, on Christmas night. Unfortunately for the members of Chi Psi, they were accused (rather indirectly and hastily) of setting the fire deliberately to collect the insurance money. The controversy raged until January 8, 1930 when the students were finally freed from blame of the fire. In fact, Dr. Coker took great umbrage at the suggestion that any student at Carolina would be so devious and squared off with the insurance commissioner until the whole matter was cleared.

So, count yourself lucky. If you are rushing a fraternity or sorority this semester, we are certainly glad that lady luck seems to have reinstituted herself on our campus!