Mae Bertha Carter (January 13, 1923 – April 28, 1999) was an activist during the Civil Rights Movement from

Drew, Mississippi Drew is a city in Sunflower County, Mississippi, Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,927 at the 2010 census. Drew is in the vicinity of several plantations and the Mississippi State Penitentiary, a Mississippi Depar ...

.Moye, J. Todd. '' Let the People Decide: Black Freedom and White Resistance Movements in Sunflower County, Mississippi, 1945-1986''.

University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a not-for-profit university press associated with the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the southern United States. It is a mem ...

, November 29, 2004
28
Retrieved from

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on February 26, 2012. , 9780807855614. Carter was born on January 13, 1923, in

Sunflower County, Mississippi Sunflower County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,971. Its largest city and county seat is Indianola, Mississippi, Indianola. ...

. In 1943 Mae Bertha married Mathew Carter, with whom she had thirteen children. In Sunflower County she enrolled 7 of her 13 children in schools previously reserved for Whites in the fall of 1965. She continued to keep her children in the schools even though a person fired bullets into her house, and even though her landlord evicted her and her family. Carter and

Marian Wright Edelman Marian Wright Edelman ( Wright; born June 6, 1939) is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, an ...

, a lawyer who worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., sued the

Drew School District The Drew School District was a public school district based in Drew, Mississippi. The school district's attendance boundary included Drew, Rome, and the employee residences of the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman), located in an unincorpo ...

to challenge the Mississippi "freedom of choice" law. In 1969 the plaintiffs won the suit.Ravo, Nick.
Mae Bertha Carter, 76, Mother Who Defied Segregation Law
" ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. May 6, 1999. Retrieved on March 30, 2012. In 1969 a court order ended the segregation system in the Drew School District. All seven of her children graduated from the previously all-White Drew High School.Glisson, p
224
/ref> Mae Bertha Carter credits a woman named Hattie Leggett with being the person who most influenced her life. She died in her home in Drew on April 28, 1999. Mrs. Carter is the central figure in Constance Curry's book ''Silver Rights'' (1995, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill).

References

* Glisson, Susan M. ''The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement''.

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns ...

, 2006. , 9780742544093.

Notes

1923 births 1999 deaths African-American activists People from Sunflower County, Mississippi People from Drew, Mississippi {{Mississippi-stub

See also

References

Notes