Park, Mungo (b. Sept. 10, 1771, Fowlshiels, Selkirk, Scot.—d. c. January 1806, near Bussa on the Niger River) Scottish explorer of the Niger River. A trained surgeon. Park had traveled to the East Indies before being chosen by the African Association to head an expedition to find the source of the Niger River (1795-97). He lost most of his crew and sup¬ plies, was imprisoned and tortured for four months by hostile Arabs, and suffered severe illness, reaching Segou (now in Mali) but not the river’s source. His Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa (1797) became a great popular success. On a second expedition (1805-06) he reached Bam¬ ako, but he was killed on the return trip.
Park, Robert E(zra) (b. Feb. 14, 1864, Harveyville, Pa., U.S.—d. Feb. 7, 1944, Nashville, Tenn.) U.S. sociologist. After 11 years as a newspaper reporter, Park attended various universities and studied with scholars such as John Dewey, William James, Josiah Royce, and Georg Simmel. He then worked for Booker T. Washington and later taught at the University of Chicago—where he was a leading figure in the “Chicago school” of soci¬ ology, characterized by empirical research and the use of human ecology models—and at Fisk University. He is noted for his work on ethnic groups, particularly African Americans, and on human ecology, a term he has been credited with coining. Park wrote Introduction to the Science of Sociology (1921) and The City (1925) with Ernest W. Burgess; Race and Culture (1950) and Human Communities (1952) were published posthumously.
Parker, Alton B(rooks) (b. May 14, 1852, Cortland, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 10, 1926, New York, N.Y.) U.S. jurist. He practiced law in Kingston, N.Y., and was elected surrogate of Ulster county in 1877 and 1883. He was appointed to the New York Supreme Court in 1885, the state Appeals Court in 1889, and the appellate division of the state Supreme Court in 1896. From 1898 to 1904 he was chief justice of the New York court of appeals. On the bench, he was noted for upholding the rights of labour. As the Democratic Party presidential candidate in 1904, he represented the eastern, pro-gold-standard wing of the party. Soundly defeated by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, he resumed his law practice.
Parker, Charlie orig. Charles Christopher Parker, Jr. (b. Aug. 29, 1920, Kansas City, Kan., U.S.—d. March 12, 1955, New York, N.Y.) U.S. saxophonist and composer. He played with Jay McShann’s big band (1940-42) and those of Earl Hines (1942-44) and Billy Eckstine (1944) before leading his own small groups in New York City. (A nickname
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1450 I Parker ► parliamentary democracy
acquired in the early 1940s, Yard- bird, was shortened to Bird and used throughout his career.) Parker fre¬ quently worked with Dizzy Gillespie in the mid-1940s, making a series of small-group recordings that heralded the arrival of bebop as a mature out¬ growth of the improvisation of the late swing era. His direct, cutting tone and unprecedented dexterity on the alto saxophone made rapid tem¬ pos and fast flurries of notes trade¬ marks of bebop, and his complex, subtle harmonic understanding brought an altogether new sound to the music. Easily the most influential jazz musician of his generation,
Parker suffered chronic drug addic¬ tion, and his early death contributed to making him a tragic legend.
Parker, Dorothy orig. Dorothy Rothschild (b. Aug. 22, 1893,
West End, near Long Beach, N.J.,
U.S.—d. June 7, 1967, New York,
N.Y.) U.S. short-story writer and poet. She grew up in affluence in New York City. She was a drama critic for Vanity Fair and wrote book reviews for The New Yorker (1927- 33). Her poetry volumes include Enough Rope (1926) and Death and Taxes (1931). Her short stories were collected in Laments for the Living (1930) and After Such Pleasures (1933). She also worked as a film writer, reported on the Spanish Civil War, and collaborated on several plays. A member of the Algonquin Round Table, she is chiefly remem¬ bered for her wit.
Parkinson, C(yril) Northcote
(b. July 30, 1909, Barnard Castle,
Durham, Eng.—d. March 9, 1993,
Canterbury, Kent) British historian and writer. He received a Ph.D. from Kings College, London, and later taught at various schools in England and Malaya. He is most famous for his 1955 formulation of the satiric “Parkinson’s Law,” which stated that “Work expands to fill the time avail¬ able for its completion.” In The Law and the Profits (1960) he discussed a second law, “Expenditure rises to meet income.”
parkinsonism Neurological disorder causing progressive loss of con¬ trol of movement. It was first described in 1817 by British physician James Parkinson (1755-1824). The cause of primary parkinsonism, or Parkin¬ son disease, is unknown. The mean age of onset is about 57, but juvenile parkinsonism is also known. Neurons in the brain that normally produce dopamine deteriorate. When 60-80% are destroyed, signals suppressing unintended movement are disrupted and symptoms appear, including tremor at rest, muscle rigidity, trouble in starting movements, and loss of balance. Known causes include sleeping sickness; certain poisons; repeated blows to the head, as in boxing; and the drug MPTP. Environmental tox¬ ins or genetic susceptibility may account for some cases. Drug therapy requires careful scheduling and combinations to delay development of tolerance and side effects. Surgical pallidotomy (destruction of the glo¬ bus pallidus, a brain structure involved in motor control) and transplan¬ tation of fetal dopamine-producing tissue remain experimental.
Parkman, Francis (b. Sept. 16, 1823, Boston, Mass., U.S.—d. Nov. 8, 1893, Jamaica Plain, Mass.) U.S. historian. Parkman graduated from Harvard University before embarking in 1846 on a journey to the West that resulted in The California and Oregon Trail (1849). He is noted for his seven-part history France and England in North America, covering
the colonial period from the beginnings to 1763; its volumes include Pio¬ neers of France in the New World (1865); Montcalm and Wolfe (1884), which demonstrates how biography can penetrate the spirit of an age; and A Half-Century of Conflict (1892), which exemplifies his literary artistry.
Parks, Gordon (b. Nov. 30, 1912, Fort Scott, Kan., U.S.—d. March 7, 2006, New York, N.Y.) U.S. writer, photographer, and film director. As the first African American staff photographer for Life (1948-72), Parks became known for his portrayals of ghetto life, black nationalists, and the civil rights movement. His first work of fiction was The Learning Tree (1963), a novel about a black adolescent in Kansas in the 1920s. He com¬ bined poetry and photography in collections such as A Poet and His Cam¬ era (1968) and Glimpses Toward Infinity (1996). In 1968 he became the first African American to direct a major motion picture with his film adaptation of The Learning Tree. He later directed Shaft (1971), which helped give rise to the genre of African American action films known as “blaxploitation.” Parks also composed music.
Parks, Rosa orig. Rosa Louise McCauley (b. Feb. 4, 1913, Tuske- gee, Ala., U.S.—d. Oct. 24, 2005, Detroit, Mich.) U.S. civil rights activ¬ ist. She worked as a seamstress in Montgomery, Ala., where she joined the NAACP in 1943. In 1955 she was arrested after refusing to give her seat on a public bus to a white man. The resultant boycott of the city’s bus system, organized by Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, brought the civil rights movement to new prominence. In 1957 Parks moved to Detroit, where she was a staff assistant (1965-88) to U.S. Rep. John Conyers. She was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.