Curry Carter (April 17, 1892 – May 15, 1970) was a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Democratic politician from

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

Early life and education

Carter was born on April 17, 1892, in

Washington, Virginia The town of Washington, Virginia, is a historic village located in the eastern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park. The entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district, Wa ...

Rappahannock County Rappahannock County is a county located in the northern Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, US, adjacent to Shenandoah National Park. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 7,348. Its county seat is Washington. The name "Rappah ...

to French Pendleton Carter and Judith M. Miller. He was educated at

Augusta Military Academy The Augusta Military Academy (AMA) was a secondary education military academy in Fort Defiance, Virginia, United States. The school was established in by Confederate veteran Charles Summerville Roller as the Augusta Male Academy and formally becam ...

and

Hampden-Sydney College Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all-male college that is the tenth- ...

where he was a member of

Kappa Alpha Order Kappa Alpha Order (), commonly known as Kappa Alpha or simply KA, is a social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity and a fraternal order founded in 1865 at Washington and Lee University, Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) i ...

. He served as a lieutenant in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. On June 7, 1923, Carter married Constance Curry in Staunton and embarked on the practice of law.

Politics and career

Carter practiced law in Staunton. In 1935 Staunton's voters elected him mayor. He served one term (1936–1938). In 1940, he was a Delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Carter again donned his uniform to serve the country with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and continued in the National Guard after the war ended. In addition to his private legal practice, Carter served as president of the Board of Visitors of the

Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, located in Staunton, Virginia, United States, is an institution for educating deaf and blind children, first established in 1839 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. The school accepts chil ...

in Staunton. As a legislator (discussed below), Carter was interested in vocational and technical education, as well as fostering the tourist trade in Virginia. His wife chaired the commission to study the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation center, which issued a report in 1963. In 1947, Curry Carter was elected to the

Virginia Senate The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

(a part-time position) from the 23rd District. He represented the City of Staunton,

Augusta County Augusta County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The second-largest county of Virginia by total area, it completely surrounds the independent cities of Staunton and Waynesboro. Its count ...

and Highland County in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

, succeeding W. Stuart Moffet. Senator Carter served until 1965, but the district changed numbers several times. The City of Waynesboro was added to the district before his re-election in 1951, and Bath County before his re-election in 1955 from what had become 22nd district. Curry Carter was a member of the

Byrd Organization The Byrd machine, or Byrd organization, was a political machine of the Democratic Party led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd (1887–1966) that dominated Virginia politics for much of the 20th century. From the 1890s until the l ...

, and became heavily involved in

Massive Resistance Massive resistance was a strategy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. of Virginia and his brother-in-law James M. Thomson, who represented Alexandria in the Virginia General Assembly, to get the state's white politicians to pass laws and p ...

, which with census changes and changes in federal law (especially the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...

which the Organization vehemently opposed), changed district boundaries significantly. Carter served on both the

Gray Commission The Commission on Public Education, known as the VPEC or Gray Commission (after its chair, Virginia state senator Garland Gray), was a 32-member commission established by Governor of Virginia Thomas B. Stanley on August 23, 1954 to study the effects ...

, which was designed to address the ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

'' decisions of the United States Supreme Court, and which ultimately became radicalized and produced the Stanley Plan, which closed Virginia public schools that faced integration, and also funded

segregation academies Segregation academies are private schools in the Southern United States that were founded in the mid-20th century by white parents to avoid having their children attend desegregated public schools. They were founded between 1954, when the U.S. ...

. Various courts declared major portions of the Stanley unconstitutional in 1958 and 1959, but some Virginia public schools remained closed for years. Governor

J. Lindsay Almond James Lindsay Almond Jr. (June 15, 1898 – April 14, 1986) was an American lawyer, state and federal judge and Democratic party politician. His political offices included as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 6th congre ...

then appointed Carter to the Perrow Commission, which took a more passive route toward racial desegregation. When Carter sought re-election in 1961 from what had become the 22nd District, Republican Winston Wine almost defeated him. Curry Carter announced his retirement after the 1965 redistricting in which Augusta, Rockbridge, Highland, Buena Vista Counties and the cities of Staunton, Waynesboro and Lexington became the 19th senatorial District. Fellow Staunton lawyer and Democrat

George M. Cochran George Moffett Cochran IV (April 20, 1912 – January 22, 2011) was a Virginia lawyer, banker and legislator who later served as a justice of the Virginia Supreme Court. Cochran served part-time representing Staunton, Virginia in the Virginia Gene ...

won overwhelmingly, with over 94% of the vote against Republican Winston Wine, who won just 5%.

Death and memorials

Carter died on May 15, 1970, four days after his wife Constance (1897–1970) died in Waynesboro. Carter Hall at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind is named for him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Curry C. 1892 births 1970 deaths Democratic Party Virginia state senators Baptists from Virginia 20th-century American politicians Mayors of Staunton, Virginia People from Washington, Virginia Hampden–Sydney College alumni United States Army personnel of World War I 20th-century Baptists