Nellie K. Morrow Parker (August 27, 1902 – January 25, 1998) was the first African American school teacher in
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[Hackensack Public Schools
The Hackensack Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from the City of Hackensack, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.
As of the 2019–20 s ...]
, Nellie K. Parker Elementary School in
is named after her.
Birth
She was born as Nellie K. Morrow to Mary A. (1875-?) and John Eugene Morrow (1873-?) aka Eugene Morrow, on August 27, 1902, in
. John was the janitor of the Johnson Public Library at 274 Main Street in Hackensack and also a minister
. He was born in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
. Nellie had the following siblings: Eugene Abram Morrow (1897-?);
E. Frederic Morrow
Everett Frederic Morrow (April 20, 1909 – July 19, 1994) was the first African American to hold an executive position at the White House. He served President Dwight Eisenhower as Administrative Officer for Special Projects from 1955 to 1961.
E ...
(1907–1994), the first African American to hold an executive position at the White House;
John H. Morrow
John Howard Morrow Sr. (February 5, 1910 – January 11, 2000) was an American diplomat. In 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed him the first ambassador to independent Guinea. He became the first representative of the United States in t ...
, Sr. (1910-2000), the first United States ambassador to independent Guinea; and William H. Morrow (1910-?).
Morrow graduated from
Hackensack High School
Hackensack High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Hackensack Public Schools. Hackensack High School serves students from the Bergen County, New Jer ...
and graduated from Montclair Normal School (now
Montclair State University) in 1922 with a certificate in teaching.
Teacher
She became the first African-American public school teacher in
public school system. Nellie remained in the Hackensack school system for 42 years. During this entire time span, she moved only once from First Street School to the Beech Street School. During her early years of teaching she and her family were subject to racism from the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
and other organizations.
[Willcox, Isobel]
"Hackensack Is Recalled As Hostile, Racist Town"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', July 15, 1973. Accessed November 25, 2017. "One of Mr. Morrow's most vivid memories of his early days in Hackensack is the controversy that erupted in 1925 when his sister, Nellie, applied for a teaching position in the local public schools. The Knights of Columbus, the Daughters of the American Revolution, white church groups and the Ku Klux Klan (which often held rallies in nearby Bergenfield) protested at meetings, in the newspapers and in flood of hate letters to the Morrow family."
Marriage
In 1928 she married William L. Parker (1900-?) of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. William worked as a salesman for a life insurance company.
Death
She died in 1998 in
Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...
.
References
*
World War I draft with John Eugene Morrow, b. September 19, 1873
*
World War I draft with Eugene Abram Morrow, b. December 4, 1897
*
1900 US Census
*
1910 US Census with "Nellie Morrow"
*
1920 US Census
*
1930 US Census
The United States census of 1930, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated during ...
with "Nellie K. Parker"
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Nellie Morrow
1902 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American educators
Hackensack High School alumni
People from Hackensack, New Jersey
Montclair State University alumni
Educators from New Jersey
20th-century American women educators
