Biography
Charles Parker was a young civil rights and antiwar activist in Charlotte during an era when Black political organizing in the South was frequently met with aggressive surveillance, infiltration, and prosecution. His activism is most closely associated with the same local milieu of organizers targeted in the early 1970s.
Parker was one of the “Charlotte Three,” arrested in late 1971 and convicted in 1972 for the 1968 arson that destroyed Lazy B Stables. He received a 10-year sentence, the shortest among the three defendants, but the case still became a widely discussed civil-rights controversy. Parker was paroled in December 1975, as contemporaneously reported in July 1976. The 1979 commutations associated with the Charlotte Three must not be treated as his physical release date.
The Militant’s July 1976 report states that Charles Parker had been paroled the previous December. This supports December 1975 parole and distinguishes it from the other Charlotte Three defendants’ later commutations.
The Charlotte Three paragraph says Reddy, Parker and Grant were actually out on bail early in 1977 while awaiting a new trial after four years in prison. It alleges government payments to prosecution witnesses and refers to their work integrating the stable they were accused of burning. The four years are reported actual service, not a new nominal sentence or an exact 1,460-day calculation. Bail liberty is distinct from a final acquittal or later pardon.
