While looking through correspondence in the University of North Carolina Papers (#40005), we came across a striking note from Corea A. Jarman of Franklin County, North Carolina to UNC president Kemp Plummer Battle.
It’s not unusual to find letters from prospective students about the possibility of attending the university, but this one stands out because the author, a clearly well-educated young woman, is inquiring on behalf of a male friend and her brother. At the time, she herself could not attend UNC – women would not be admitted to UNC as undergraduates until 1897 when President Battle’s successor, Edwin Alderman, opened enrollment to women.
Honored Sir,
Please excuse the boldness of a country girl in writing to one who is so much occupied as yourself; I plead a deep interest in the education of a brother and friend as an excuse. I was told last year by one who professed to be a pupil of the University, that a young man desiring an education and willing to work for it, would be carried through the course, and then a situation obtained for him, by which he could pay his tuition, or he would be given a situation in which he could work before and after school hours and pay his expenses in that way. The friend I spoke of is eighteen years old, but has had no advantages. He understands as far a [sic] Compound Quantities in Arithmetic, the rudiments of Grammar and Geography; is a tolerably good speller and reader, and writes a passibly [sic] good hand. He is apt, sober, honest, truthful and industrious, and will work hard at almost any honest calling in order to get an education. My brother is very well advanced. I don’t think there are any two boys in the state who are more desirous of educational advantages, or who would work harder, more earnestly, or conscientiously for it.
You may never have heard of me, but you know my grandfather – Augustus J. Foster -, and I have heard my mother and father – Ferneyfold Jarman – speak of you many, many times.
I hope I may succeed in arousing your interest on the behalf of the boys, and if you wish for references I can furnish them.
I remain,
Yours Very Respectfully
Miss Corea A. Jarman,
Pughs,
Franklin Co.,
N.C
Letter from Corea A. Jarman to Kemp Plummer Battle, 20 November 1889. From the University of North Carolina Papers (#40005), University Archives, Wilson Library, UNC Chapel Hill
It’s not clear whether Battle responded to her inquiry, or if her brother and friend were admitted. However, curious about the writer of this letter, we learned that Corea Jarman (later Andrew) was born in 1868, making her 21 years old at the time of this letter. As a student she was, according to honor roll lists published in the Wilson Advance, consistently at the top of her class at the Wilson Graded School. The grandfather she mentions, Augustus Foster, graduated in the class of 1835 according to Kemp Battle’s history of the university.
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. (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.
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.
While women were permitted to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill beginning in 1896, the enrollment numbers remained small until the 1920s. In 1940, Edith Harbour, woman’s editor of the local News & Observer, wrote to then–Dean … Continue reading →
While women were permitted to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill beginning in 1896, the enrollment numbers remained small until the 1920s.
UNC’s enrollment statistics for women (Robert Burton House Records, #40019, University Archives).
In 1940, Edith Harbour, woman’s editor of the local News & Observer, wrote to then–Dean of Administration Robert B. House for information about the enrollment of women at UNC. He wrote back and included these surprising enrollment statistics: Whereas in 1920, there were only 57 women enrolled at UNC, by 1939, there were 504.
As of January 12, 2013 there are a total of 16,282 women, including foreign exchange and independent studies students enrolled at the university, according to the University Registrar. Women make up 57.9% of the student body. How times have changed.
Inez Koonce Stacy, Adviser to Women, writes to Dean R.B House (Robert Burton House Records, #40019, University Archives).
One early advocate for women on campus was Inez Koonce Stacy, adviser to women from 1919-1946. When she wrote to Dean House in 1940, women could be admitted no earlier than their junior year. It was expected that the first two years of study would be done at a women’s college and then they might transfer. Whether this was fair to the women of Chapel Hill was the subject of debate on campus at the time.
Stacy writes, “I definitely approve our return to a policy of full service to those girls who live at home and are prepared for entrance to college.” Her argument rests on the public nature of the university: “Do we have a right to deprive any young woman the privilege of a college education when she lives within the sound of the bell of an institution which is, in all probability, partially supported by her parents’ taxes.
1940 memo on a vote by the Board of Trustees (Robert Burton House Records, #40019, University Archives).
The issue of Chapel Hill women attending UNC prior to their junior year came to a head in 1940 when the Board of Trustees voted on the matter. Dean House issued a brief memo to report that the vote had gone in favor of admitting local women as underclass students. A small step, but this change paved the way for more. Who would have guessed then that women would become the majority of all Tar Heels less than 100 years later?
