Scope and arrangement
The Richard Parrish papers (Additions 2) is arranged in two series:
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1941-1977
Richard F. Parrish papers (Additions 2) include personal materials and subject files for the following organizations: American Federation of Teachers (Executive Council Proceedings, the 1968 New York City teachers' strike and decentralization), the United Federation of Teachers (Black Caucus), the National Afro-American Labor Council, and the Community Teachers Association. There is also printed matter including newspapers, magazine clippings, and material from the American Federation of Teachers and National African-American Labor Council conventions.
Richard Franklin Parrish was a teacher and a labor leader in New York City. He was born on August 9, 1914, in Wildwood, New Jersey, and moved with his parents, Cora Elizabeth Flowers Parrish and Leslie Franklin Parrish, to New York City the following year. Graduating from high school during the Depression, Parrish worked as a clerk in the Navy Department and became active in labor organizations. Returning to school, he graduated from the City College of New York in 1947 with a degree in economics. Parrish taught in the New York City school system from 1947 until his retirement in 1976. He was a founding member and president of the National Afro-American Labor Council, formerly the Negro American Labor Council, which strove to end discrimination in the labor movement.
Parrish held offices in the United Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the national teachers union affiliated with the AFL-CIO. In 1963, Parrish led a contingent of teachers and students to Prince Edward County, Virginia where the local school board had closed the public schools rather than integrate. In 1964, the AFT expanded this Freedom School concept to include the Deep South. Parrish served as chairman of the union's Civil Rights Committee and acted as liaison between the schools and the national office. At the 1965 AFT convention, Parrish successfully concluded the fight for the ouster of segregated AFT locals. Parrish also chaired the AFT's 1966 conference on "Racism in Education." During the New York City teachers' strike of 1968, Parrish formed the UFT Black Caucus. In 1970, the AFT Black Caucus was established with Parrish serving as its chairman from 1970 to 1973. During the New York City teachers' strike of 1968, Parrish formed the UFT Black Caucus. Parrish was most active with teacher and black labor organizations from the early 1960s until 1974. In addition to his activities in civil rights and labor groups and work as a teacher, Parrish ran unsuccessfully for State Comptroller in 1949 and the New York City Council in 1963 on the Socialist Party ticket. He died in 1983.
The Richard Parrish papers (Additions 2) is arranged in two series:
Gift of Beatrice Parrish, ca. 1983.
Accessioned by Andre Elizee, 1984.
Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs.
Richard Parrish papers and Richard Parrish papers (Additions 1), Sc Micro R-6688, Jean Blackwell Hutson General Research and Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture