Gloria Cecelia Ray Karlmark (born September 26, 1942) is a member of the Little Rock Nine, the nine African-American students who desegregated Central High School in Little Rock,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

in 1957.. One of the three children of Harvey C. and Julia Miller Ray, she was 15 when she attempted to enter Little Rock Central High School where she was barred from entering by the Arkansas National Guard, under the order of Governor Orval Faubus who opposed integration. They returned to the school weeks later protected by federal troops. In 1965, she graduated from the

Illinois Institute of Technology The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the m ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in Chemistry and Mathematics. She worked briefly as a public school teacher and research assistant at the University of Chicago Research Medical Center. Ray married Krister Karlmark in 1966, and in 1970, she joined International Business Machine's (IBM) Nordic Laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden, where she worked as a systems analyst and technical writer. In 1976 she cofounded the journal ''Computers in Industry,'' serving as the editor-in-chief until 1991. Karlmark graduated from Kungliga Patent & Registreringsverket in Sweden as a patent attorney, and from 1977 until 1981, she worked for IBM International Patent Operations. From 1976 to 1994, Karlmark founded and was editor-in-chief of Computers in Industry, an international journal of computer applications in industry. In 1994, Karlmark went to work in the Netherlands for Philips Telecommunications in Hilversum and, later, for Philips Lighting in Eindhoven. She and her husband have two children.. In 1998, Karlmark and the other members of the Little Rock Nine were awarded the

Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is the oldest and highest civilian award in the United States, alongside the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is bestowed by vote of the United States Congress, signed into law by the president. The Gold Medal exp ...

in recognition of "selfless heroism." In 1958, Karlmark and the Little Rock Nine received the Spingarn Medal by the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

(NAACP) for outstanding achievement by an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

. Karlmark has noted concern about racism in the United States and now resides in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

.. In 2019, Karlmark received an Honorary Doctorate of Science, for outstanding contributions to the development of a more inclusive society from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karlmark, Gloria Ray Little Rock Nine Illinois Institute of Technology alumni Living people American expatriates in the Netherlands American emigrants to Sweden 1942 births