Margaret Carter

Born Margaret Hunter in Shreveport, Louisiana, on December 29, 1935, her parents were Hilton and Emma Hunter.[4][5] 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.[6] After earning the honor as salutatorian in high school, she received scholarships to Grambling State University where she then briefly attended before meeting who would become her first husband.[5] After getting married she had five daughters by the age of 28, but moved to Oregon to escape abuse by her then husband.[6] She arrived via train on December 1, 1967, and began working odd jobs.[5] In Oregon, she re-married, adding four stepchildren, but divorced after a few years to Elvis.[5][6] In 1970, she enrolled at Portland State University where she then graduated from in 1972 with a bachelor of arts degree in education.[5] Carter then earned a masters of education in psychology from Oregon State University in 1973.[4][5] In 1973, Carter began working for Portland Community College as a counselor.[6]

Republican leaders recruited Carter to run for a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives in 1983.[6] They hoped to unseat the incumbent in a heavily Democratic district in Northeast Portland.[6] Carter won as a Democrat in 1984 and began serving at the 1985 legislative session representing District 18.[6][7] She became the first African-American woman elected to the Oregon Legislative Assembly.[6][8] In the House she worked to pass legislation that ended state controlled investments in South Africa during apartheid and legislation to observe Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a state holiday.[6] In 1989 she advocated for Blacks to join the Urban League of Portland.[9]

In 1998, she was a candidate for the office of Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction, but lost to Stan Bunn.[6][10] Carter was a member of the Oregon House until January 1999, when term limits prevented her from seeking additional terms.[11] In November 1999, she became the president of the Urban League of Portland, serving until May 2002.[12] Also in 1999 she retired from Portland Community College.[8] She was then elected to the Senate in November 2000.[13] In 2005, she became president pro tempore of the Oregon State Senate[6] and was unopposed in the 2008 election.

In 2010, she was awarded the Legislator of the Year Award from the Oregon Library Association.[14]

She resigned from the Oregon Senate in 2009 in order to take a job at the Oregon Department of Human Services.[8] 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.[8] None of the bills ever became law.[8] Carter became director of community engagement in 2012 and saw her salary decreased.[8]

• Seventy-third Oregon Legislative Assembly (2005–2006)
• Seventy-fourth Oregon Legislative Assembly (2007–2008)
• Seventy-fifth Oregon Legislative Assembly (2009–2010)

• Follow the Money - Margaret Carter
  • 2006 2004 2000 1998 1996 1994 1992 1990 campaign contributions
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Margaret Carter Oral History Interview