involved in political and civil rights activity, being a delegate to Republican state conventions, colored educational conventions, and the 1886 National Convention of Colored Men in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as religious activity as a delegate at the August 1886 American National Baptist Convention and the May 1887 Southern Baptist Convention. He was briefly a replacement pastor at Zion Baptist Church in Louisville, and January 2, 1886 was ordained. September 27, 1886 he became pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Louisville. he served at Cavalry until his death in 1931. Education career In 1890, William J. Simmons, president of State University, resigned to create the Eckstein Institute in Cane Springs, Kentucky, and Parrish moved to Eckstein with Simmons and served as president from Simmons' sudden death that year (1890) until 1912. In 1908 he established the Kentucky Home Society for Colored Children in Louisville. He was secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Lincoln Institute from 1909 to 1919. In 1912, the Eckstein Institute was merged with the Lincoln Institute, and Parrish remained involved in the schools. In 1918, the Eckstein Institute fully dissolved and Parrish returned to Simmons College of Kentucky to become president, serving from 1918 to 1931. After Parrish's death, Simmons College of Kentucky was faced with financial trouble and sold to the University of Louisville. Parrish and his wife, Mary Virginia Cook Parrish, were central figures in African American Kentucky society. They were involved in the lives of many notable Kentuckians, for instance introducing noted businesswoman Madam C. J. Walker to Booker T. Washington. Other activities In April 1904, Parrish made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and a European tour. During this year he was a delegate to the Baptist World's Congress, a messenger to the World's Sunday School Convention in Jerusalem, and he preached in Germany with Karl Mascher. In 1915 he travelled to Jamaica for religious work. Family and death On January 26, 1898, Parrish married Mary Virginia Cook, a noted educator, of Bowling Green, Kentucky. They had two sons, Charles Henry Parrish, Jr., who became a notable educator as well, and Frank Hawkins Parrish. Rev. Parrish died May 8, 1931 in Louisville and was buried in Louisville Cemetery. References Further reading Williams, Lawrence H. The Charles H. Parrishes: Pioneers in African-American Religion and Education, 1880–1989. Edwin Mellen Press, 2003. 1859 births 1931 deaths People from Lexington, Kentucky Religious leaders from Louisville,