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Carter was the eldest of Ralph and Hermione Carter's four children and was raised in [[Oxford]], graduating from Calhoun County High School in [[1943]]. He served in the Navy during [[World War II]] and afterward married his high school sweetheart, the former India Thelma Walker.
Carter was the eldest of Ralph and Hermione Carter's four children and was raised in [[Oxford]], graduating from Calhoun County High School in [[1943]]. He served in the Navy during [[World War II]] and afterward married his high school sweetheart, the former India Thelma Walker.


He moved to Boulder, Colorado to study journalism at the University, but returned to Birmingham, where he and India raised their four children. Using the name '''Ace Carter''', he worked at several [[List of radio stations|radio stations]] before landing a hosting job at [[WILD-AM]] in [[1953]]. His show, sponsored by the American State's Rights Association, was syndicated to more than twenty other stations. His claim that the [[National Conference for Community and Justice|National Conference of Christians and Jews]] was a hotbed of communism provoked community outrage, led by NCCJ Alabama chapter president [[Paul Head]], that got Carter fired. Afterward he supported himself by running a filling station.
He moved to Boulder, Colorado to study journalism at the University, but returned to Birmingham, where he and India raised their four children. Using the name '''Ace Carter''', he worked at several [[List of radio stations|radio stations]] before landing a hosting job at [[WILD-AM]] in [[1953]]. His show, sponsored by the American State's Rights Association, was syndicated to more than twenty other stations. His denouncing National Brotherhood Week, provoked community outrage, led by [[National Conference for Community and Justice|National Conference of Christians and Jews]] Alabama chapter president [[Paul Head]], that got Carter fired. Afterward he supported himself by running a filling station.


==Race and politics==
==Race and politics==
Marginalized by the [[Alabama Citizens Council]] for his anti-semitism, Carter founded his own North Alabama Citizens Council, and became an increasingly-outspoken defender of racial [[segregation]]. He told the UPI that the [[NAACP]] had "infiltrated" Southern white teenagers with rock and roll music and called for jukebox owners to remove black records.  
Marginalized by the [[Alabama Citizens Council]] for his anti-semitism, Carter founded his own North Alabama Citizens Council, and became an increasingly-outspoken defender of racial [[segregation]]. He told the UPI that the [[NAACP]] had "infiltrated" Southern white teenagers with rock and roll music and called for jukebox owners to remove black records.  


By the mid-1950s, Carter had founded the [[Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy]], an independent Klan group with paramilitary inclinations. It was members of that group that beat singer Nat "King" Cole at [[Boutwell Auditorium|Municipal Auditorium]] on [[April 10]], [[1956]]. He also published ''The Southerner'', which promulgated white racial superiority and anti-communist rhetoric. Four members of that group were convicted of torturing and mutilating [[Judge Aaron|Edward "Judge" Aaron]] in [[1957]].
By the mid-1950s, Carter had founded the gray-robed [[Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy]], an independent Klan group with paramilitary inclinations. It was members of that group that beat singer Nat "King" Cole at [[Boutwell Auditorium|Municipal Auditorium]] on [[April 10]], [[1956]]. He also published ''The Southerner'', which promulgated white racial superiority and anti-communist rhetoric. Four members of that group were convicted of torturing and mutilating [[Judge Aaron|Edward "Judge" Aaron]] in [[1957]].


On [[September 1]], [[1956]] Carter gave a speech in Clinton, Tennessee, lambasting the desegregation of Clinton HIgh School. In the aftermath, a mob of white men damaged cars driven by African Americans and were turned away from the mayor's house by Sheriff's deputies. Fellow speaker John Kasper was charged with sedition and inciting a riot.
On [[September 1]], [[1956]] Carter gave a speech in Clinton, Tennessee, lambasting the desegregation of Clinton HIgh School. In the aftermath, a mob of white men damaged cars driven by African Americans and were turned away from the mayor's house by Sheriff's deputies. Fellow speaker John Kasper was charged with sedition and inciting a riot.
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Carter, who was not personally present for those crimes, challenged the previously-ousted [[Bull Connor]] for the office of Police Commissioner in the [[1956 Birmingham municipal election]], but lost. In [[1957]] Connor's police arrested him and his brother James for assaulting officers who were investigating a shooting connected with Carter's KKK group. Carter left the group in [[1958]], but only after shooting two members in a dispute over finances. He was charged with attempted murder, but not prosecuted. That year he [[1958 primary elections|campaigned for]] [[Lieutenant Governor of Alabama|Lieutenant Governor]], finishing fifth in the five-man race which was won by [[Albert Boutwell]].
Carter, who was not personally present for those crimes, challenged the previously-ousted [[Bull Connor]] for the office of Police Commissioner in the [[1956 Birmingham municipal election]], but lost. In [[1957]] Connor's police arrested him and his brother James for assaulting officers who were investigating a shooting connected with Carter's KKK group. Carter left the group in [[1958]], but only after shooting two members in a dispute over finances. He was charged with attempted murder, but not prosecuted. That year he [[1958 primary elections|campaigned for]] [[Lieutenant Governor of Alabama|Lieutenant Governor]], finishing fifth in the five-man race which was won by [[Albert Boutwell]].


During the 1960s, Carter worked as an uncredited speech writer for [[Governor of Alabama|Governor]] [[George Wallace]] and, later, for his wife [[Lurleen Wallace|Lurleen]]. He is believed to have contributed to Wallace's infamous [[1963]] inaugural address in which he promised to uphold "Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever." Wallace himself claimed not to know Carter, but former staffers say that he was paid by others on Wallace's behalf. When Wallace campaigned for President in [[1968]] and sought to tone down the fervor of his views, Carter was no longer involved with him.
During the 1960s, Carter worked as an uncredited speech writer for [[Governor of Alabama|Governor]] [[George Wallace]] and, later, for his wife [[Lurleen Wallace|Lurleen]]. He is now credited with penning Wallace's infamous [[1963]] inaugural address in which he promised to uphold "Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever." Wallace himself claimed not to know Carter, but former staffers say that he was paid by others on Wallace's behalf. When Wallace campaigned for President in [[1968]] and sought to tone down the fervor of his views, Carter was no longer involved with him.


Carter challenged Wallace for Governor in [[1970 primary elections|1970 Democratic primary]]. Once again he finished last in a field of five, with Wallace winning narrowly over [[Albert Brewer]]. Carter his supporters picketed the inauguration, carrying signs reading "Wallace is a bigot" and "Free our white children."
Carter challenged Wallace for Governor in [[1970 primary elections|1970 Democratic primary]]. Once again he finished last in a field of five, with Wallace winning narrowly over [[Albert Brewer]]. Carter his supporters picketed the inauguration, carrying signs reading "Wallace is a bigot" and "Free our white children."


==Literary career==
==Literary career==
After his defeat, Carter moved to Sweetwater, Texas, and later to St George's Island, Florida, where he busied himself with writing, using the assumed name of Forrest Carter.
After his defeat, Carter moved to Sweetwater, Texas, and, in [[1973]], to St George's Island, Florida, where he busied himself with writing, using the assumed name of Forrest Carter.


His first novel, ''The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales'', was published in [[1975]]. It was adapted into a motion picture by Clint Eastwood, who also starred. When interviewed about the book by Barbara Walters for the "Today Show", he was recognized by many in Alabama as the same man who had just run unsuccessfully for governor a few years earlier. He denied being the same man in a follow-up interview for ''The New York Times''.
His first novel, ''The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales'', features a former Confederate soldier pursued by cruel federal soldiers. It was purchased by Clint Eastwood's Malpaso Productions for $25,000 and made into a [[1975]] motion picture. Philip Kaufman, the original director, objected to what he considered "fascist" overtones in the script and dropped the project, which Eastwood himself eventually directed. When interviewed about the book by Barbara Walters for the "Today Show", Carter was recognized by many in Alabama as the same man who had just run unsuccessfully for governor a few years earlier. He denied being the same man in a follow-up interview for ''The New York Times''.  


He followed up with a sequel, as well as a purported memoir entitled ''The Education of Little Tree'' in [[1976]]. While marketed as Forrest Carter's autobiography, the story involved a boy orphaned as a youth and raised in the Cherokee culture by his grandparents. The original Delacorte edition claimed that the author was a "Storyteller in Council" to the Cherokee tribe. Members of the Cherokee nation have disclaimed any connection with Carter and have found numerous inaccuracies regarding their culture and language as described in the book. Critics and historians have lodged similar complaints, finding his depiction of Native Americans to be drawn from "noble savage" mythology rather than from reality.
He followed up with a purported memoir entitled ''The Education of Little Tree'' in [[1976]]. While marketed as Forrest Carter's autobiography, the story was a fiction, portraying young Forrest as an orphan raised in the Cherokee culture by his grandparents. The story has been credited with introducing American readers to a gentler view of Native Americans and has been cited as an influence in screen depictions such as Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves".


In [[1978]] Carter completed a fictionalized biography of Geronimo, entitled ''Watch for Me on the Mountain''. Having separated from his wife, Carter moved to Abilene, Texas where he was working on a follow-up to ''The Education of Little Tree''. He died from heart failure in June 1979 and his body was returned to Anniston for burial.
The original Delacorte edition claimed that the author was a "Storyteller in Council" to the Cherokee tribe. Members of the Cherokee nation have disclaimed any connection with Carter and have found numerous inaccuracies regarding their culture and language as described in the book. Critics and historians have lodged similar complaints, finding his depiction of Native Americans to be drawn from "noble savage" mythology rather than from reality.


''The Education of Little Tree'' was re-released in a paperback edition by the University of New Mexico Press in [[1985]]. With the controversy over its authorship forgotten, the book sold more than 600,000 copies. It was named "Book of the Year" by the American Booksellers and was ranked atop ''The New York Times'' non-fiction best-seller list for several weeks. When historian and distant relative of Carter's, Dan T. Carter, published an article about Asa Carter's double life in the ''Times'' in [[1991]], the newspaper moved the book to its fiction list and the UNM Press reworked the cover, removing the claim that it was a true story. Oprah Winfrey, who had endorsed the book in [[1994]], removed it from her list of recommendations in [[2007]].
In [[1978]] Carter completed a fictionalized biography of Geronimo, entitled ''Watch for Me on the Mountain''. Having separated from his wife, Carter moved to Abilene, Texas where he was working on a follow-up to ''The Education of Little Tree''. He died from heart failure, possibly triggered by a fight with one of his sons, in June 1979. His body was returned to Anniston for burial at the D'Armanville Cemetery.
 
''The Education of Little Tree'' was re-released in a paperback edition by the University of New Mexico Press in [[1985]]. With the controversy over its authorship forgotten, the book sold more than 600,000 copies. It was named "Book of the Year" by the American Booksellers and was ranked atop ''The New York Times'' non-fiction best-seller list for several weeks. When Emory University historian Dan T. Carter, published an article about Asa Carter's double life in the ''Times'' in [[1991]], the newspaper moved the book to its fiction list and the UNM Press reworked the cover, removing the claim that it was a true story. Oprah Winfrey, who had endorsed the book in [[1994]], removed it from her list of recommendations in [[2007]].


The book was adapted into a feature length film by Richard Friedenberg in [[1997]], stoking renewed controversy about Carter. The original Delacorte editor, Eleanor Friede, characterized the connection as "nasty gossip".
The book was adapted into a feature length film by Richard Friedenberg in [[1997]], stoking renewed controversy about Carter. The original Delacorte editor, Eleanor Friede, characterized the connection as "nasty gossip".
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* Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (November 24, 1991) "[www.macalester.edu/internationalstudies/Gates-Authenticity.pdf]." "'Authenticity', or the Lesson of Little Tree". ''The New York Times Book Review''
* Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (November 24, 1991) "[www.macalester.edu/internationalstudies/Gates-Authenticity.pdf]." "'Authenticity', or the Lesson of Little Tree". ''The New York Times Book Review''
* Rubin, Dana (February 1992) "The Real Education of Little Tree." ''Texas Monthly''.
* Rubin, Dana (February 1992) "The Real Education of Little Tree." ''Texas Monthly''.
 
* {{Eskew-1997}}
==External links==
* {{McWhorter-2001}}
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wallace/peopleevents/pande01.html Asa Carter] profile on PBS's People and Events
* Barra, Allen (December 20, 2001) "[http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/12/20/carter/print.html The education of Little Fraud]." Salon.com


{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Asa Earl}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Asa Earl}}

Revision as of 17:04, 22 December 2010

Asa Earl Carter (born September 4, 1925 in Anniston; died June 7, 1979 in Abilene, Texas) was a radio host and aspiring politician in Birmingham, the founder of an independent Ku Klux Klan group and the North Alabama Citizens Council, and the founder and editor of The Southerner monthly magazine. He worked as a speechwriter for George Wallace, and, later became a best-selling author, under the assumed identity of Forrest Carter.

Carter was the eldest of Ralph and Hermione Carter's four children and was raised in Oxford, graduating from Calhoun County High School in 1943. He served in the Navy during World War II and afterward married his high school sweetheart, the former India Thelma Walker.

He moved to Boulder, Colorado to study journalism at the University, but returned to Birmingham, where he and India raised their four children. Using the name Ace Carter, he worked at several radio stations before landing a hosting job at WILD-AM in 1953. His show, sponsored by the American State's Rights Association, was syndicated to more than twenty other stations. His denouncing National Brotherhood Week, provoked community outrage, led by National Conference of Christians and Jews Alabama chapter president Paul Head, that got Carter fired. Afterward he supported himself by running a filling station.

Race and politics

Marginalized by the Alabama Citizens Council for his anti-semitism, Carter founded his own North Alabama Citizens Council, and became an increasingly-outspoken defender of racial segregation. He told the UPI that the NAACP had "infiltrated" Southern white teenagers with rock and roll music and called for jukebox owners to remove black records.

By the mid-1950s, Carter had founded the gray-robed Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy, an independent Klan group with paramilitary inclinations. It was members of that group that beat singer Nat "King" Cole at Municipal Auditorium on April 10, 1956. He also published The Southerner, which promulgated white racial superiority and anti-communist rhetoric. Four members of that group were convicted of torturing and mutilating Edward "Judge" Aaron in 1957.

On September 1, 1956 Carter gave a speech in Clinton, Tennessee, lambasting the desegregation of Clinton HIgh School. In the aftermath, a mob of white men damaged cars driven by African Americans and were turned away from the mayor's house by Sheriff's deputies. Fellow speaker John Kasper was charged with sedition and inciting a riot.

Carter, who was not personally present for those crimes, challenged the previously-ousted Bull Connor for the office of Police Commissioner in the 1956 Birmingham municipal election, but lost. In 1957 Connor's police arrested him and his brother James for assaulting officers who were investigating a shooting connected with Carter's KKK group. Carter left the group in 1958, but only after shooting two members in a dispute over finances. He was charged with attempted murder, but not prosecuted. That year he campaigned for Lieutenant Governor, finishing fifth in the five-man race which was won by Albert Boutwell.

During the 1960s, Carter worked as an uncredited speech writer for Governor George Wallace and, later, for his wife Lurleen. He is now credited with penning Wallace's infamous 1963 inaugural address in which he promised to uphold "Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever." Wallace himself claimed not to know Carter, but former staffers say that he was paid by others on Wallace's behalf. When Wallace campaigned for President in 1968 and sought to tone down the fervor of his views, Carter was no longer involved with him.

Carter challenged Wallace for Governor in 1970 Democratic primary. Once again he finished last in a field of five, with Wallace winning narrowly over Albert Brewer. Carter his supporters picketed the inauguration, carrying signs reading "Wallace is a bigot" and "Free our white children."

Literary career

After his defeat, Carter moved to Sweetwater, Texas, and, in 1973, to St George's Island, Florida, where he busied himself with writing, using the assumed name of Forrest Carter.

His first novel, The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales, features a former Confederate soldier pursued by cruel federal soldiers. It was purchased by Clint Eastwood's Malpaso Productions for $25,000 and made into a 1975 motion picture. Philip Kaufman, the original director, objected to what he considered "fascist" overtones in the script and dropped the project, which Eastwood himself eventually directed. When interviewed about the book by Barbara Walters for the "Today Show", Carter was recognized by many in Alabama as the same man who had just run unsuccessfully for governor a few years earlier. He denied being the same man in a follow-up interview for The New York Times.

He followed up with a purported memoir entitled The Education of Little Tree in 1976. While marketed as Forrest Carter's autobiography, the story was a fiction, portraying young Forrest as an orphan raised in the Cherokee culture by his grandparents. The story has been credited with introducing American readers to a gentler view of Native Americans and has been cited as an influence in screen depictions such as Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves".

The original Delacorte edition claimed that the author was a "Storyteller in Council" to the Cherokee tribe. Members of the Cherokee nation have disclaimed any connection with Carter and have found numerous inaccuracies regarding their culture and language as described in the book. Critics and historians have lodged similar complaints, finding his depiction of Native Americans to be drawn from "noble savage" mythology rather than from reality.

In 1978 Carter completed a fictionalized biography of Geronimo, entitled Watch for Me on the Mountain. Having separated from his wife, Carter moved to Abilene, Texas where he was working on a follow-up to The Education of Little Tree. He died from heart failure, possibly triggered by a fight with one of his sons, in June 1979. His body was returned to Anniston for burial at the D'Armanville Cemetery.

The Education of Little Tree was re-released in a paperback edition by the University of New Mexico Press in 1985. With the controversy over its authorship forgotten, the book sold more than 600,000 copies. It was named "Book of the Year" by the American Booksellers and was ranked atop The New York Times non-fiction best-seller list for several weeks. When Emory University historian Dan T. Carter, published an article about Asa Carter's double life in the Times in 1991, the newspaper moved the book to its fiction list and the UNM Press reworked the cover, removing the claim that it was a true story. Oprah Winfrey, who had endorsed the book in 1994, removed it from her list of recommendations in 2007.

The book was adapted into a feature length film by Richard Friedenberg in 1997, stoking renewed controversy about Carter. The original Delacorte editor, Eleanor Friede, characterized the connection as "nasty gossip".

Publications

  • Carter, Forrest (1973) The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales. Whippoorwill Publishers. (Reprinted by Delacorte in 1975 as Gone to Texas; and by Dell in 1980 as The Outlaw Josey Wales)
  • Carter, Forrest (1976) The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales. Delacorte Press
  • Carter, Forrest (1976)The Education of Little Tree. Delacorte Press
  • Carter, Forrest (1978) Watch for Me on the Mountain. Delacorte Press (Republished by Dell in 1980 as Cry Geronimo!)

References

  • "Is Forrest Carter Really Asa Carter? Only Josey Wales May Know for Sure" (August 26, 1976) The New York Times
  • Carter, Dan T. (October 4, 1991) "The Transformation of a Klansman." The New York Times
  • Carter, Dan T. (1993) "Southern History, American Fiction: The Secret Life of Southwestern Novelist Forrest Carter." in Lothar Honnighausen and Valeria Gennaro Lerda, eds. Rewriting the South: History and Fiction. Tübingen, Germany: Francke. pp. 286-304
  • Reid, Calvin (October 25, 1991) "Widow of 'Little Tree' Author Admits He Changed Identity". Publishers Weekly
  • Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (November 24, 1991) "[www.macalester.edu/internationalstudies/Gates-Authenticity.pdf]." "'Authenticity', or the Lesson of Little Tree". The New York Times Book Review
  • Rubin, Dana (February 1992) "The Real Education of Little Tree." Texas Monthly.
  • Eskew, Glenn T. (1997) But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807846678
  • McWhorter, Diane (2001) Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743226488
  • Barra, Allen (December 20, 2001) "The education of Little Fraud." Salon.com
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