Happy Birthday, Dorothy Parker.
The American poet, writer, and critic, remembered as the most famous member of the Algonquin Round Table and a symbol of Jazz Age sophistication, was born in New Jersey on August 22, 1893. Although she never had strong ties to Baltimore, her remains are here, but not in a cemetery.
According to the website JStor Daily, Parker was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement and “when she passed away in 1967, Parker’s estate was bequeathed to [civil rights leader] Martin Luther King Jr., a man she had never met.”
Following King’s assassination in 1968, his estate went to the NAACP, which is based in Baltimore, and still owns some of Parker’s copyrights. The NAACP headquarters is also the final resting place of her ashes – all because she supported the civil rights movement.
