ABOUT
US
The Charles H. Parrishes and Virginia Cook Parrish Foundation is being established to preserve and honor Charles H. Parrishes, Virginia Cook Parrish, and their descendants.
MISSION & HISTORY.
Our mission is to preserve and honor the history and legacies of the Charles H. Parrishes and Virginia Cook Parrish and their descendants by establishing a repository and clearing house for research, scholarship, special community projects, and the collection of artifacts and memorabilia that attest to their life work and their numerous contributions to enrich African Americans in America.
Dr. Charles H Parrish Sr. (April 18, 1859—May 8, 1931) was a minister and educator in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. He was the pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Louisville from 1886 until his death in 1931. He was a professor and officer at Simmons College and then served as the president at the Eckstein Institute from 1890 to 1912 and then at Simmons College from 1819 to 1931.
Dr. Charles H Parrish Jr. (1899-1989), a scholar and educator, joined the faculty of Simmons University in 1921 and moved to Louisville Municipal College, the black branch of the University of Louisville, in 1931. In 1951 when the University of Louisville desegregated, and Municipal was closed, Dr. Parrish became the first African American faculty member on the Belknap campus and the first African American appointed to the faculty of a historically white university in the south.
Mary Virginia Cook Parrish (August 8, 1862—October 11, 1945) taught, wrote, and spoke on many issues, such as women’s suffrage, equal rights in the areas of employment and education, social and political reform, and the importance of religion and a Christian Education. She was at the founding session of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 at the 19th Street Baptist Church in Washington, DC. She was an early proponent of Black Baptist feminism and founded the National Baptist Women’s Convention in 1900.
We seek to establish a network of like-minded individuals committed to issues related to social justice, equity, educational excellence, advocacy/activism, feminism, spirituality, and centering the joy and brilliance of Black children.
Descendants.
Dr. Ursula Parrish Daniels began her career at Bergen in September 1976. During her tenure, Dr. Daniels demonstrated her deep commitment to through her activism, volunteerism, and facilitating connections between the college, its K-12 partners, and the community. In 1980, she obtained a grant from the Center for Institutional Research and Development (CIRD), allowing her to expand the Early Childhood curriculum and create the Child Development Center (CDC), which officially opened in R. Neil Ender Hall in 1982. Dr. Daniels served as director of the CDC from its inception until 2011.
Dr. Daniels earned a B. A. in Psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University, an M.A. in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College, and a Ph.D. in Child Development and Educational Psychology from New York University. Her research projects focused primarily on the field of Early Childhood Education. Dr. Daniels concluded her tenure at Bergen, serving as the Executive Assistant to three Presidents in the seven years preceding her retirement in 2018.
