Dr. Nathan Mitchell Carter Jr. Tribute
(Morgan Years: 1970-2004)
Dr. Nathan M. Carter: January 6, 1936 - July 15, 2004
A native of Selma, Alabama, Nathan Carter was Morgan State
University’s Chairperson of the Department of Fine Arts,
Director of the Performing Art Series, and Director of the
acclaimed Morgan State University Choir. He was a graduate
of the Hampton Institute, the Juilliard School of Music
(with honors), and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Prior
to Dr. Carter’s joining the faculty of Morgan State
University in 1970, he was the Choral Director and
Chairperson of the Division of Music at Knoxville College,
where his superior choirs were famed for their tours
throughout the United States.
Dr. Carter had been president of the Maryland Chapter of
the American Choral Directors Association and music
consultant-conductor at the Baltimore School for the Arts.
He was the Headmaster of the New Shiloh Baptist Church,
School of Music, Baltimore, Maryland. He had frequently
been engaged as guest conductor, lecturer, adjudicator and
clinician throughout the United States, including Harvard
University, University of Utah, University of Connecticut,
Gettysburg College (where he was cited for the year visited
as the “person who contributed most to the Department of
Music”), and many other locations across the country. He
had appeared as lecturer with Eva Jessye at the Cleveland
Orchestra’s Community Music Project, and as guest conductor
with the Detroit Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra,
performing his own orchestral/ choral arrangements.
Among his many citations and honors are the Distinguished
Service Award from the National Association of Negro
Musicians for his outstanding contributions as a performer
of works by Black composers, and the Phi Mu Alpha Service
Award. Hampton University’s recent 125th anniversary
celebration included honoring Dr. Carter as one of its
distinguished alumni. Morgan State University bestowed upon
him its Outstanding Achievement Award, the first ever to be
awarded to a current member of the faculty. He joined Dr.
Benjamin Quarles in Morgan’s First Annual Salute to Black
Men, and was named among “Baltimore’s Best” by the city.
His hometown of Selma, Alabama bestowed upon him a plaque
and key to the city, designating Dr. Carter as “Honorary
Mayor”. Dr. Carter was featured in Maryland Magazine’s 25th
anniversary issue (Fall 1993) as one of a handful of
notable citizens in the state of Maryland, and was named
Conductor of the Year in 1994 by the Jentry McDonald
Corporation. Nathan Carter, more than “Baltimore’s Best”,
already belongs to that choral hall of fame which includes
Eva Jessye, Jester Hairston, John Work, R. Nathaniel Dett,
and William Dawson. In May 1995 he was awarded the Honorary
Degree, Doctor of Fine Arts from Gettysburg College,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
In May 1996, the Choir and Conductor celebrated 25 years
together with a weekend of activities. A corporate Black
Tie Banquet in his honor was given at the National
Aquarium, followed by a Silver Anniversary Concert at the
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with members of the Baltimore
Symphony. This concert was later covered by Maryland Public
Television and was received throughout the State as the
most popular and successful show ever produced by MPT. As a
fund raiser, it netted MPT more in one night’s telethon
than the “Three Tenors”. The Silver Anniversary concert won
three Emmys for MPT and was chosen for national coverage
during Christmas Eve 1997. Listed among his most recent
honors are The Distinguished Alumni Award from Peabody
Conservatory, The Gold Medal from The Rosa Ponselle
Foundation, The Andrew White Medal from Loyola University
(Baltimore, MD), and the Music America Lifetime Achievement
Award from Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra. He was
invited by the Cultural Affairs Office of USIA to do a
two-week schedule of lectures and conducting in Nairobi,
Kenya. He also collaborated with John Nelson, Conductor and
Paul Schoenfield, Composer in presenting the world premier
of a new work entitled “D’vorah” to celebrate the 50th
Anniversary of Israel (Haifa, Israel). This work was later
done at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. by the
Morgan State University Choir. He had been selected by the
Board of Directors of the National Association for the
Study and Performance of African-American Music (NASPAAM)
to be a 1999 National Award recipient.
IMG_0843Dr. Carter departed from this world on July 15,
2004. His presence will be sorely missed and his spirit
deeply felt by the entire Morgan community.
A Nathan Carter Foundation has been established to
accomplish the following tasks:
I. The bronze bust replica of Dr. Nathan M. Carter, Jr., by
sculptor Mr. Simmie Knox, to be placed in the atrium of the
Murphy Fine Arts Center
II. The annual Dr. Nathan M. Carter, Jr. scholarship awards
to deserving music students attending Morgan State
University; and
III. A wax replica of Dr. Nathan M. Carter, Jr., to be
added to the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum's
permanent and touring collections.
If you are interested in giving to this fund, please
contact Mrs. Alethia B. Starke at cartermor@comcast.net or
mail your contribution to Nathan M. Carter Foundation,
Inc., P.O. Box 2, Stevenson, MD 21153. Your contribution
will be tax deductible as a 501(c)(3) organization.
