Carrie Parker was a pioneer and a woman who always spoke her mind. She was a published writer and poet, a mother to six and indisputably ahead of her time.
She was also the first black woman to attend IU in 1898.
IU Archives Director Dina Kellams first came across Parker’s name in newspaper clippings when searching for information for a different project.
“I felt pretty confident that I found something that was forgotten,” Kellams said. “I wanted to continue to do a little bit of digging to see what I could come up with.”
As the archives director, Kellams’ job consists primarily of connecting researchers with University resources. She said she doesn’t often do much research. However, as word spread about Kellams’ findings via social media and University blogs, people pointed Kellams to other resources for research, which she used to continue to discover more and more about Parker.
“I really wanted to find out more about her life,” Kellams said. “Why didn’t she finish school? What did she do? Does her family know that she was a pioneer at Indiana University?”
Kellams presented almost a year’s worth of research Friday afternoon to a small group in the Wylie House Museum’s Morton C. Bradley Jr. Education Center.
She spoke of Parker’s time at IU, her graduation from Clinton High School and meeting Parker’s surviving family members, including her 100-year-old son, Leon Parker Taylor.
In her research, Kellams discovered a letter written by the superintendent of Parker’s high school’s district to then-IU President Joseph Swain.
The letter encouraged Swain to accept Parker to IU at a time when only six black men were registered at the University.
“We shall be glad to have the colored girl of which you speak here,” Swain replied in a letter.
Kellams found Parker attended IU until the stress of classes and work for the family she lived with became too much. In local newspapers it was said Parker suffered from “nerve trouble,” leading her to drop out. Shortly after leaving IU, Parker married John Taylor early in 1899 and started a family.
Kellams said it was always Parker’s goal to return to school. Before they married, Taylor promised to pay for the rest of Parker’s education, however, Parker never did finish at IU.
“Carrie worked really hard to instill the importance of education in her family,” Kellams said.
Several of Parker’s family members have gone to school in the IU system, Kellams said. When invited to come to Bloomington for this year’s Homecoming weekend, almost 100 family members visited.
While Parker’s family was in town, they were invited to the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center for a reading of Parker’s published work and to celebrate her designation as an honorary alumna.
Karen Land, an IU Communications news and media specialist who helped Kellams spread the word about her research, said meeting Parker’s family was amazing.
“When Dina was first looking, she really wanted a photograph, but our fondest hope was that we would find a family,” Land said. “We had no idea we would find this family with really remarkable people.”
Kellams, who traveled with Land last week to visit Parker’s son in Michigan for his 100th birthday celebration, said he has a strong appreciation of IU.
“The best part of my life is this past year when Indiana U recognized my mother and her role at Indiana University,” Kellams said Parker’s son told friends and family at the celebration.
The first Carrie Parker Taylor Scholarships, funded by University Graduate School Dean James Wimbush in honor of Parker, will be awarded this week. The scholarships will be given to two students who are sophomore, junior or senior 21st Century, Groups or Hudson and Holland scholars.
A portrait of Parker by local artist Joel Washington is set to be finished by the end of the month.
Kellams said she hopes to invite the Parker family back to IU for its unveiling in July.
Parker’s family will donate her original poems to the IU Archives, and Land said she and Kellams will continue to collect stories from Parker’s family.
“She was fierce,” Kellams said. “She did what she thought was right. She did really without concerns of the repercussions or what could have been.”
