Category: Karen Parker

Carolina Firsts: Karen L. Parker

At the University Day celebration on October 11, 2016, Chancellor Carol Folt announced a new program to name scholarships after notable “firsts” in UNC history. In recognition of the individuals recognized as pioneers at UNC, the University Archives is publishing blog … Continue reading →

At the University Day celebration on October 11, 2016, Chancellor Carol Folt announced a new program to name scholarships after notable “firsts” in UNC history. In recognition of the individuals recognized as pioneers at UNC, the University Archives is publishing blog posts with more information about each of the twenty-one “firsts.” This post is part of that series.

Karen L. Parker Diary, Letter, and Clippings #5275, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Karen L. Parker Diary, Letter, and Clippings #5275, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Karen L. Parker made history at UNC in 1965, when she became the first African American woman to receive an undergraduate degree from the University.

Parker began her studies at UNC in 1963 following two years of study at the North Carolina Women’s College in Greensboro (now UNC-Greensboro). During her time at UNC, she took an active role in the local and national civil rights movements, participating in sit-ins and marches. The diary she kept as a student — which documents her experience on campus and in the community, her hopes and goals for the future, and the trials she encountered along the way — has been digitized and can be found in the Southern Historical Collection.  

At UNC, Parker majored in Journalism. For her senior year, she was named the editor of The Journalist, a news publication put out by the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Parker was also chosen to participate in UNC’s exchange program with the University of Toronto.

After graduating, Parker went on to have a successful career in journalism, working at Grand Rapids Press in Grand Rapids, Michigan; the Los Angeles Times; and other publications before returning to North Carolina to work at the Winston-Salem Journal. She retired in 2010, and was inducted into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame in 2012.

Parker has been active with UNC, serving on the Friends of the Library Board and the Board of the General Alumni Association. In 2015, during the campaign to rename the former Saunders Hall (now Carolina Hall), a UNC student wrote to the Daily Tar Heel published a letter to the editor, suggesting that the building be renamed in honor of Karen Parker.


Sources and Further Reading:

“A Role Model for Change.” UNC News Services, February 19, 2015.

“Karen Parker.” I Raised My Hand to Volunteer, UNC Library Exhibit, 2007.

Morgan Jones, “Karen Parker: A Woman to Remember.” For the Record, UNC University Archives blog, March 18, 2013.

Karen L. Parker Diary, Letter, and Clippings #5275, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Oral Histories:

  • February 2007 interview with the Southern Oral History Program
  • April 2007 interview with the Southern Oral History Program
  • December 2012 interview with UNC-Greensboro
  • March 2016 interview with the Southern Oral History Program

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 →

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. We also remember Mia Hamm, who led the women’s soccer team to four NCAA  championships in the 1990s. Who don’t we remember then?

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.)