Mary Kennedy Carter

When back in the United States, Mary moved to New York City to work for McGraw-Hill publishers as editor and writer. There she met her husband Donald Carter. She left McGraw-Hill for the opportunity to create a module of Black History at the Roosevelt school district, Long Island. In that period she managed to get many important speakers to the school district, including Jackie Robinson and Betty Shabazz.^[1]

After teaching and creating awareness at the Roosevelt school district, she went on to teach in Rockville Center, and went so far as to create the after-school clubs 'PINK' and 'BLUE' to promote diversity, multiculturalism and anti-violence. Mary Kennedy Carter was a preacher amongst students and teachers for equality and diversity everywhere she came.^[1]

After retiring, Mary became a field supervisor and adjunct professor at Hofstra working with student teachers. She became part of a team developing and field-testing the 'New York and Slavery: Complicity and Resistance' curriculum that was developed with the support of the New York State Council for the Social Studies. In 2005, the curriculum won the Program of Excellence Award from the National Council for the Social Studies.^[2]

In later years, Mary Kennedy Carter was a member of the New York State Amistad Commission, which was established by the State Legislature to research the best way issues of race can be taught in America's History classrooms.^[1]

At the end of her career, Mary became the historian for her house of worship in Roosevelt, New York and a teacher educator at Hofstra University in Long Island.^[2] She supervised student teachers and taught social studies methods and educational issues classes. Most of her students were white and were raised in largely white suburban communities. A major focus of her classes was helping them to recognize the importance of diversity.^[1]

In 1970 Mary Kennedy Carter wrote the book 'On to freedom', a short 55 page book about a slave family planning to escape slavery.^[3][4] Furthermore, Mary contributed to some editions of 'Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study'.^[5]