Hussman School alumni W. Horace Carter '43, Karen Parker '65 among those being honored at UNC 'Noteworthy Firsts' scholarship reception

UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumni W. Horace Carter '43 and Karen Parker '65 are among those being honored at the UNC "Noteworthy Firsts" scholarship reception on Thursday, Sept. 28, in the Blue Zone of Kenan Stadium.

The Noteworthy Firsts initiative was founded by Chancellor Carol L. Folt in Fall 2016 and has named grants and fellowships to honor courageous people who represent important “firsts” in the University’s history.

W. Horace Carter '43 Carter was the editor of The Tar Heel student newspaper while at Carolina. He later founded The Tribune in Tabor City, North Carolina, in 1946. Carter actively campaigned against the Ku Klux Klan, which resulted in more than 100 convictions of Klansmen. In 1953, Carter and The Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service.

Karen Parker '65 Parker was the first black woman undergraduate enrolled at UNC — transferring from the Woman’s College in Greensboro in 1963 — and the first undergraduate black woman to graduate from the University — receiving her diploma in 1965. As a student, she studied journalism; was editor of the School of Journalism’s newspaper, UNC Journalist; won a journalism scholarship her senior year; was the president of UNC Press Club; and was accepted into the Order of the Valkyries, a women-only honorary society. Beyond her academic and extracurricular involvements, Parker was involved with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and participated in sit-in demonstrations, protests and marches in support of civil rights.

In addition to Carter and Parker, the need-based, undergraduate awards and graduate fellowships will recognize 19 other members of the Carolina community, including Sallie Walker Stockard, the first woman graduate; Henry Owl, the first American Indian to be admitted; and John L. Brandon, Ralph K. Frasier and LeRoy B. Frasier, Jr., the first black undergraduates; among others.

Click here to view the full list of “firsts”