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Description
Adele “Della” Parker (ex 1914) was born in Rolla, Missouri, to formerly enslaved parents, John Henry and Sedonia (née Blackwell) Parker, circa 1883. During her teenage years, Parker worked as a servant in order to support her younger siblings’ education.
Around the turn of the century, Parker left Missouri and arrived in Denver, where she began to focus on her own education. She enrolled in the University of Denver’s (DU) Preparatory School and joined the school’s Adelphian Literary Society, which focused on recitation, writing, musical performance, and debates. She graduated in 1906 and enrolled in DU’s Liberal Arts program, where she studied for one year.
Parker applied to the University of Colorado Law School in 1911 and found herself a bit of a local celebrity when the local newspapers picked up her story. Fortunately, the press seemed favorable, claiming that Parker made “the superiority of masculinity...no longer self-evident" and that she had a “bright future.” She was a dedicated student and skilled debater while attending the law school.
Unfortunately, Parker did not finish her law degree as she needed to return home to care for a sick relative. She remained in Missouri, earning a teaching certificate and teaching in the Lincoln School, one of the Black schools in the St. Louis suburbs. By 1930, she owned her own home. Parker retired in the early 1950s and passed away in 1963.
Publication Date
1914
Recommended Citation
Ciota, Rebecca, "Adele "Della" Parker (ex 1914)" (1914). Black History at Colorado Law. 3.
https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/black-history/3