Margaret Louise Carter (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Hunter; December 29, 1935) is an American politician who was a Democratic member of the

Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the Ho ...

from 1985 to 1999 and 2001 to 2009 and was the first black woman elected to the state's legislature. She served in the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...

until 1999, and then in the Oregon State Senate from 2001 to 2009. She served as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Vice Chair for Ways and Means, and as a member of both the Health and Human Services and

Oregon State Hospital Oregon State Hospital is a public psychiatric hospital in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the state's capital city of Salem with a smaller satellite campus in Junction City opened in 2014. Founded in 1862 and constructed in the Kirkbride ...

Patient Care committees. She announced her resignation from the Senate effective August 31, 2009, and took a post as Deputy Director for Human Services Programs at the

Oregon Department of Human Services The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) is the principal human services agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. ODHS helps Oregonians achieve wellbeing and independence through opportunities that protect, empower, respect c ...

. In 2015, she was reportedly considering a return to the senate.

Early life

Born Margaret Hunter in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

, on December 29, 1935, her parents were Hilton and Emma Hunter. She was raised there in a family of nine children by her father, a Baptist minister, and her mother, a cook at the school cafeteria. After earning the honor as

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in the United States, Armenia, and the Philippines to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is tradi ...

in high school, she received scholarships to

Grambling State University Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African American Herita ...

where she then briefly attended before meeting who would become her first husband. After getting married she had five daughters by the age of 28, but moved to Oregon to escape abuse by her then husband. She arrived via train on December 1, 1967, and began working odd jobs. In Oregon, she re-married, adding four stepchildren, but divorced after a few years to Elvis. In 1970, she enrolled at

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

where she then graduated from in 1972 with a bachelor of arts degree in education. Carter then earned a masters of education in psychology from

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

in 1973. In 1973, Carter began working for

Portland Community College Portland Community College (PCC) is a public community college in Portland, Oregon. It is the largest post-secondary institution in the state and serves residents in the five-county area of Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Colum ...

as a counselor.

Political career

Republican leaders recruited Carter to run for a seat in the

in 1983. They hoped to unseat the incumbent in a heavily Democratic district in Northeast Portland. Carter won as a Democrat in 1984 and began serving at the 1985 legislative session representing District 18. She became the first African-American woman elected to the

. In the House she worked to pass legislation that ended state controlled investments in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

during

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

and legislation to observe

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

's birthday as a state holiday. In 1989 she advocated for Blacks to join the

Urban League of Portland The Urban League of Portland is a service, civil rights, and advocacy organization for African Americans in the Pacific Northwest region. Today, the League is a non-profit, community-based organization committed to providing opportunities and suppo ...

. In 1998, she was a candidate for the office of

Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction The Superintendent of Public Instruction, sometimes referred to as the State Superintendent of Schools, was a constitutional officeOR Const. art. VIII. within the executive branch of the Oregon state government from 1872 to 2012, when it was elim ...

, but lost to Stan Bunn. Carter was a member of the Oregon House until January 1999, when term limits prevented her from seeking additional terms. In November 1999, she became the president of the

, serving until May 2002. Also in 1999 she retired from Portland Community College. She was then elected to the Senate in November 2000. In 2005, she became president pro tempore of the Oregon State Senate and was unopposed in the 2008 election. In 2010, she was awarded the Legislator of the Year Award from the

Oregon Library Association The Oregon Library Association (OLA) is a professional association based in the U.S. state of Oregon that promotes the advancement of library service through public and professional education and cooperation. See also *Oregon State Library *Ameri ...

Later life

She resigned from the Oregon Senate in 2009 in order to take a job at the

. The hiring was criticized since the new position paid $121,872 annually, which, along with other similar moves to the public sector by other legislators, led to the introduction of several bills to curtail such practices. None of the bills ever became law. Carter became director of community engagement in 2012 and saw her salary decreased.

References

External links

* ''Follow the Money'' - Margaret Carter *
20062004200019981996199419921990
campaign contributions *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Margaret 1935 births Living people African-American state legislators in Oregon African-American women in politics Democratic Party Oregon state senators Oregon State University alumni Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Portland State University alumni Grambling State University alumni Women state legislators in Oregon Portland Community College alumni 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American history of Oregon 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women