Margaret Carter

Margaret Louise Carter (née Hunter; December 29, 1935) is an American politician who was a Democratic member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly from 1985 to 1999 and 2001 to 2009 and was the first black woman elected to the state's legislature. She served in the Oregon House of Representatives until 1999, and then in the Oregon State Senate from 2001 to 2009. She served as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Vice Chair for Ways and Means, and as a member of both the Health and Human Services and Oregon State Hospital Patient Care committees. She announced her resignation from the Senate effective August 31, 2009, and took a post as Deputy Director for Human Services Programs at the Oregon Department of Human Services. In 2015, she was reportedly considering a return to the senate.

Early life Born Margaret Hunter in Shreveport, Louisiana, on December 29, 1935, her parents were Hilton and Emma Hunter. 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. 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. In 1970, she enrolled at Portland State University where she then graduated from in 1972 with a bachelor of arts degree in education. She became the first African-American woman elected to the Oregon Legislative Assembly.

In 1998, she was a candidate for the office of Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction, but lost to Stan Bunn. Carter was a member of the Oregon House until January 1999, when term limits prevented her from seeking additional terms. In November 1999, she became the president of the Urban League of Portland, serving until May 2002. Also in 1999 she retired from Portland Community College. In 2005, she became president pro tempore of the Oregon State Senate

Later life She resigned from the Oregon Senate in 2009 in order to take a job at the Oregon Department of Human Services. 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.