Pat Parker (born Patricia Cooks; January 20, 1944 – June 17, 1989)[2] was an African American poet and activist.

Pat was born on January 20, 1944, in Houston, Texas, to Marie Louise (née Anderson) and Ernest Nathaniel Cooks.

"[12] Parker worked from 1978 to 1988 as the medical coordinator and executive director of the Oakland Feminist Women's Health Center.

[14] In 1979 she toured with the "Varied Voices of Black Women", a group of poets and musicians that included Linda Tillery, Mary Watkins, and Gwen Avery.

[6] Parker participated in many forms of activism especially regarding gay and lesbian communities, domestic violence, and rights of people of color.

[20] Designed to confront both black and women's communities with, as Clarke notes, "the precariousness of being non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual in a racist, misogynist, homophobic, imperial culture".

[21] Clarke believes that Parker articulates "a black lesbian-feminist perspective of love between women and the circumstances that prevent our intimacy and liberation".

[10] In the poem,[24] Parker notes that The perpetrator was convicted of "womanslaughter", not murder,[10] because He served a one-year sentence in a work-release program.

[10] Parker brought this crime to the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women in 1976 in Brussels,[25] vowing In 2014, the small independent press Ra'av (Hebrew for Hunger) published a wide selection of Parker's work in Israel, translated into Hebrew by Yael "belly" Levi-Hazan, Yael (yali) Dekel, and Hani Kavdiel.

[28][29] The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history,[30] and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.