Carolyn McKenzie Carter

Carolyn McKenzie Carter (1919 - April 21, 2010) was an American photojournalist who worked for the Atlanta Constitution (now The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) from 1940 until the early 1950s.

Carolyn McKenzie Carter
Born
Carolyn McKenzie
Other namesMrs. Don Carter
Carolyn Carter

Early life

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Carter was born in 1919[1] and was raised in Moultrie, Georgia. She was a graduate of the Nashville-based Ward-Belmont School.[2] She graduated from the University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications in 1940.[3] Carter met Lieutenant Donnel Earl Carter, cousin of President Jimmy Carter and a journalist for a competing newspaper when her work ended up on the front page of the paper and his was relegated to the end pages.[4] The couple married in 1942.[1]

Career

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In 1940, Carter was hired by Ralph McGill to work for the Atlanta Constitution, thereby becoming the first women to serve as a photojournalist at the publication.[2] In the 1940s, she worked for the Gainesville Daily Register and the Alexandria Daily Town Talk newspapers.[5] She would also work at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Sunday magazine where captured photographs of the American South.[6]

When the war concluded, Carter began covering more domestic topics, which included one well-known image of a child showing how an iron lung was used.[7][1] In 1954 Carter became a commercial photographer for the Coca-Cola Company,[8] traveling overseas to document the organization’s international expansion for its employee magazine, The Refresher.[2] She would work at Coca-Cola for five years.[9] In 1959 she moved to New York and did freelance work for the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Travel.[10][9]

In 2012, her husband Don Carter created the University of Georgia Don E. and Carolyn McKenzie Carter Endowment for Journalism to fund the University’s Chair for Excellence in Journalism [11]

Carter died on April 21, 2010.[2]

Selected publications

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  • Carter, Carolyn McKenzie (1943). "War Wives in Journalism". Matrix. 29 (6). Women in Communications: 7–.
  • Carter, Carolyn (1945-07-08). "Dangling on a rope under Georgia". The Atlanta Journal. pp. [1], [2]. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  • Talmadge, Betty; Carter, Carolyn; Robitscher, Jean (1977-11-15). How to Cook a Pig & Other Back-to-the-Farm Recipes: An Autobiographical Cookbook.[12]

Awards and honors

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In 1959, Carter was designated a master photographer by the Professional Photographers of America.[8][13] She was the first female named “Man of the Year” from the Industrial Photographers of America.[9] The Carolyn Carter Award was established in 1986 by Georgia's Department of Industry, Trade and Travel.[10] In 2008 she was a member of the inaugural class of Grady Fellows at the University of Georgia.[10][3] Carter was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame in 2017.[10][14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Women in Photojournalism – A Race Against Time". Georgia State University Library. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  2. ^ a b c d Zainaldin, Jamil (2017-03-06). "Photographer Carolyn McKenzie Carter had her finger on the pulse of a changing Georgia". SaportaReport. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  3. ^ a b Tagami, Ty. "Trailblazing female photographer dies". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  4. ^ Badertscher, Nancy (2017-03-25). "Newspaper lover found love at paper". The Atlanta Constitution. pp. B5. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  5. ^ "They Used To Whistle". The Atlanta Journal. 1945-05-13. p. 62. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  6. ^ Sibley, Celestine (1951-10-26). "Traveling with a camera". The Atlanta Constitution. Vol. 84, no. 112. Internet Archive.
  7. ^ "Child in an iron lung, Grady Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia, circa 1940s". digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  8. ^ a b "Carolyn Carter Gets Highest Award". The Atlanta Journal. 1959-07-29. p. 54. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  9. ^ a b c "Mrs. Carter to be cited 'photographer of the year'". The Macon News. 1962-01-21. p. 20. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  10. ^ a b c d "Former Moultrian honored for photography". Moultrie Observer. March 2, 2017. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  11. ^ McGinty, Johnathan (2012-11-19). "Grady College establishes Carter Chair in Journalism". UGA Today. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  12. ^ Reviews of cookbook
  13. ^ "Carolyn Carter Awarded Degree By Professional Photographers". The Atlanta Constitution. 1959-07-30. p. 30. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  14. ^ "Carolyn Carter | Georgia Women of Achievement". georgiawomen. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
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