Helen Eugenia Parker | |
---|---|
Born |
Pine Bluff,
Arkansas, U.S. | November 17, 1909
Died | unknown, after 1940 |
Education | Howard University |
Occupation(s) | Architect, drafter |
Helen Eugenia Parker (1909–unknown), was an African-American architect, active in Detroit.
Helen Eugenia Parker was born on November 17, 1909, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to parents Willie Parker and contractor Walter Eugene Parker. [1] The family of seven later moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. [1] When graduating in 1926 from Wiley High School-College (now known as Wiley College) in Marshall, Texas, she was a top student. [1]
It is also likely she attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. [1] [2]
Parker briefly returned to Little Rock. There, she taught mathematics in the segregated public high school, served as a librarian at the segregated library, and consulted for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. [1]
Around 1930s, Parker moved to Detroit, Michigan. [1] [2] There, she was an instructor for the Shop Drafting Training Program, part of the National Youth Administration of Works Progress Administration. [1] As well as a drafter for the first two registered architects of color in Detroit, Alfonso R. Feliciano (1883–1940) a Puerto Rican graduate of Universidad de Barcelona, and Donald Frank White. [1] She was associate architect for Trinity Hospital in Detroit, [1] a black hospital which closed in 1962. [3]
Parker was a board member of the Peter Pan Nursery. [1] She was also active in professional associations, including Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the National Technical Association, and the Detroit Youth Assembly. [1]
Parker died after 1940. [1] [2] Parker's profile was included in the book, African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945 (2004).