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Local figure

Karen Lynn Parker

Karen L. Parker transferred to UNC from the Woman's College in Greensboro in fall 1963 as its first Black woman undergraduate. In Chapel Hill she joined CORE, took part in sit-ins, was arrested and jailed after a sit-in at Leo's restaurant in December 1963, and graduated in journalism in 1965.

Source: UNC University Archives, History on the Hill: Karen Parker: A Woman to Remember

2 indexed works are connected with this person.

Search these 2 works Research sources View indexed works ↓
Karen Lynn Parker, Yackety Yack, 1965
Karen Lynn Parker, Yackety Yack, 1965

Indexed works

Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.

Hussman School of Journalism and Media of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill records, 1968-2022

Hussman School of Journalism and Media · 1968

Records of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about 1,600 items in two linear feet covering 1968 to 2022, in the University Archives at UNC, 40280. Oral histories make up much of the material, and subjects include the school's curricula, faculty and students, with William C. Friday, Roland Giduz, Karen L. Parker and Edwin M. Yoder among the figures recorded.

Why this is here: Their name appears in the record.

UNC

Karen L. Parker diary, letter, and clippings, 1963-1966.

Parker, Karen L. · 1963

Four items from Karen L. Parker, dated 1963 to 1966: a diary, a letter and newspaper clippings, in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 5275-z. Parker was an African American woman student at the university, and subjects include civil rights demonstrations in Chapel Hill, segregation in higher education and the Congress of Racial Equality.

Why this is here: Listed as its creator.

UNC

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Karen Parker is arrested at a sit-in at Leo's restaurant Parker, UNC's first Black woman undergraduate and a CORE member, went with other demonstrators to Leo's, a segregated restaurant in downtown Chapel Hill, where they were arrested and taken to jail. She described it in her diary entry of December 18.Search the index · UNC University Archives, History on the Hill: Karen Parker: A Woman to Remember
  2. Karen Parker becomes the first Black woman to earn an undergraduate degree at UNC Karen L. Parker, who transferred from the Woman's College in Greensboro in 1963 as UNC's first Black woman undergraduate, graduated in journalism in 1965. She was the first African American woman to receive an undergraduate degree from the University, and as a student she joined Chapel Hill sit-ins and was arrested in December 1963. People: Karen Lynn ParkerUNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Carolina Firsts: Karen L. Parker
  3. UNC's Noteworthy Firsts program honors Karen Parker At a reception in Kenan Stadium, UNC honored Parker among 21 people whose names were given to need-based undergraduate awards and graduate fellowships in its Noteworthy Firsts initiative, begun by Chancellor Carol Folt in 2016. People: Carol L. FoltSearch the index · UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media: UNC Hussman alumni W. Horace Carter '43, Karen Parker '65 among those being honored at UNC 'Noteworthy Firsts' scholarship reception

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

  • Kenan Stadium University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

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Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as Karen Lynn Parker, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Research sources

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Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Karen Lynn Parker Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Books about Karen Lynn Parker

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Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

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Picture: Karen Lynn Parker, Yackety Yack, 1965. Public domain. Yackety Yack, 1965 (University of North Carolina yearbook); via the Internet Archive

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