Paul Parks

An interview with Paul Parks (1923-2009), a former engineer, civil rights activist, and shaper of education policy in Boston. Parks was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and he entered the engineering program at Purdue University. As a sophomore, Parks was drafted into the army and served with a combat engineering unit during World War II. After the war, Parks earned a doctorate in engineering from Northeastern University, and he became heavily invested in community and political organizations in Boston, like the NAACP. In Interview 1, Parks discusses some of the problems facing Boston Public Schools, including segregation. In the late 1960s, Parks was named the Administrator of the Model Cities Program in Boston, and he talks about the program's lasting impacts on the Lower Roxbury area. In Interview 2, Parks talks about getting drafted as a sophomore at Purdue and his penchant for stirring up "trouble" as an advocate for integration. Parks also briefly talks about his childhood and his Seminole heritage. This interview was collected as part of Northeastern University's Lower Roxbury Black History Project (2007-2009). Finding aid: http://www.library.neu.edu/archives/collect/findaids/m165find.htm

Media

Audio

Sound recording of interview with Paul Parks, March 16, 2009
Sound recording of interview with Paul Parks, June 8, 2009

Transcript

Transcript of interview with Paul Parks, March 16, 2009
Transcript of interview with Paul Parks, June 8, 2009

Images

Governor Michael Dukakis's Cabinet
Joe Warren and Paul Parks
Leroy Keith, Jr., Paul Parks, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, unknown male, and John Bynoe
Lois Harrison Jones the first African American woman Superintendent of Schools
A Meeting with Vernon Jordan
The Model Cities Board with Tom Atkins
The Model Neighborhood Board
Paul Parks and Michael Dukakis
Paul Parks and Michael Dukakis at the ribbon cutting for Crispus Attucks's Children Center
Paul Parks and the Head of Construction and Development at Dudley Station
Paul Parks before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
Paul Parks, Ellen Jackson, and Michael Dukakis
Presentation of the Kiwanis Man of the Year Award
Raymond Flynn and Paul Parks
Raymond Flynn, Governor Michael Dukakis, Paul Parks, and Flash Wiley
An unknown man, Walter Dunfey, Paul Parks, and Coretta Scott King
Civil Rights Act of 1964