Willis McGlascoe Carter

Willis McGlascoe Carter (September 3, 1852 – March 23, 1902) was an African-American educator, newspaper editor, and civil rights activist in Virginia. Born into slavery in Albemarle County, he became principal of the West End School in Staunton, edited the African American weekly newspaper the Staunton Tribune, and was a leading figure in Black Republican politics in western Virginia during the late nineteenth century. He helped organize opposition to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901–02, which disenfranchised most African American voters in the state. By the end of his life he was described by the Washington Bee as "one of the best known citizens of Virginia."