Franklin D. Parker (1918-1995) came to Woman's College of the University of North Carolina in 1951 (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) as assistant professor of history and retired as a full professor in 1983. He received the Alumni Teaching Excellence Award in 1968. Parker talks about being hired because of his graduate general studies background, which appealed to Chancellor Edwin Graham Jr., who wanted to institute such a program at Woman's College; how his interest in Latin American Studies began and his travel and study experiences in Central America with his family and his students. He was unhappy with the deposition of Guatemalan President Guzman with the help of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Parker discusses his seminars on Latin American culture attended by students, faculty and townspeople; coeducation of the institution and integration of the college and Grimsley High School as well as the Woolworth Sit-Ins, when three Woman's College students were campused. He describes the faculty and student seminars held before integration that included black and white participants from five Greensboro colleges.
