Gainesville historian gives presentation about local 'hidden figure'

Sunday Assembly's latest meeting featured a presentation billed as “Carolyn Beatrice Parker: Gainesville's own hidden figure.”

The presentation, held Sunday at the Pride Center in the Liberty Center, 3131 NW 13th St., featured historian Peggy Macdonald, Ph.D., educating and informing two dozen people about the late Parker, who broke barriers in the scientific field.

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Parker’s paternal grandmother was Eliza Caro, mother of Julius A. Parker. Julius A. Parker was Carolyn Beatrice Parker's father and is known for being one of the first Black doctors in Alachua County, Macdonald said.

Carolyn Beatrice Parker was born in 1917 and was the eldest of six children of her father and mother, the late Della Ella Murrell Parker, Macdonald said.

The Parker family moved to Tampa temporarily, which was where Carolyn Beatrice Parker graduated from Middleton High School before graduating magna cum laude from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a bachelor’s degree in physics, Macdonald said.

Carolyn Beatrice Parker also earned two master's degrees in physics — one from the University of Michigan and the other from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Macdonald said.

She would later develop multiple sclerosis (MS) and was diagnosed with leukemia. She died at the age of 48 in 1966 while working on her doctorate in physics, Macdonald said.

Parker is known for her work as a research physicist on the Dayton Project, which was part of the Manhattan Project to develop atomic weapons during World War II, and was exposed to polonium during her research, Macdonald.

The title of Macdonald's presentation was a reference to the 2016 hit movie "Hidden Figures," which was about three Black women mathematicians who worked at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the space race.

Polonium is a chemical element that is a rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, according to Wikipedia.

During the program, musicians performed for the audience and it was followed by a poem reading from Sunday Assembly member Mary Lynch.

The poem was titled, “Carolyn Beatrice Parker” which was written by Australian poet Alicia Sometimes.

Macdonald is a Florida native who has written about local and Florida history for several magazines.

Her book “Marjorie Harris Carr: Defender of Florida's Environment” was published in 2014. She received a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Florida.

The foundation for Carolyn Beatrice Parker's educational career was laid before she was born. Her father attended Union Academy in northwest Gainesville, which historians say is the first public school for Blacks in Alachua County. His mother sold Avon products to raise money to send him to complete his high school education in Atlanta because Union Academy only went up to eighth grade

According to Macdonald, Caro started selling Avon products to increase funds to help send her son to complete high school in Atlanta due to Union Academy only offering eight grade. He ended his educational career by graduating from Meharry Medical College in Nashville before returning to Gainesville to live with his mother, Macdonald said.

In 2020, J.J. Finley Elementary School in Gainesville was renamed Carolyn Beatrice Parker Elementary School.

Macdonald said she was on the name change committee and was appointed by Alachua County Public School Board member Tina Certain. She remembered the committee receiving an extensive list and during her research she suggested Parker’s name should be chosen for the school.

“There’s not one school named after a Black woman,” Macdonald recalled saying in the meeting. “She is such an inspiration. She overcame barriers as a Black woman scientist. She was a Gainesville Hidden Figure before the times of the women on the Apollo Project.”

For more information about Sunday Assembly Gainesville, email SundayAssembly32601@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville native Carolyn Beatrice Parker was topic at Sunday event