Durham Carter, longtime Columbia neighborhood leader, dies

Durham Carter, the longtime president of the Martin Luther King neighborhood in downtown Columbia, died Saturday morning.

He was 88.

Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin confirmed the passing of Carter, a man he called “irreplaceable” and “the gold standard for citizen leadership.”

Carter was an icon among community leaders, working tirelessly for decades to better his neighborhood and the city.

“I love Columbia,” he told The State in 2002. “My goal is to bring about diversity and make Columbia a better place to live and to work. I’m about harmony among people of all races.”

Carter fought to get the city to tear down dilapidated houses in his neighborhood at a faster pace. He spearheaded an effort to establish his neighborhood’s historic preservation overlay.

And he helped restructure City Council into a district-based form of government with two at-large representatives as well.

“His leadership was representative of, I believe, Columbia becoming a much more open and welcoming city,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin said he will remember sitting on “Deacon Carter’s” porch – a rite of passage, more or less, for elected officials. They would talk about what was going on in the community, and Benjamin would take away lessons from Carter’s past.

“I’d always get a hug, and I’d kiss him on the forehead,” Benjamin said. “He was a sweet man, just a sweet man.”

A lifelong resident of Columbia, Carter lived on Oak Street in the neighborhood behind Five Points for decades.

“You’ve got to believe in where you live and work to make it better,” Carter told The State in 2006.

Carter was well-known in the downtown Five Points community. He used to come into the back room of the Revente consignment shop and tell “unbelievable” stories, said Debbie McDaniel, who opened the store almost 25 years ago.

“The stories he could tell! ... Think about everything he saw in his lifetime,” McDaniel said. “Even as Durham got older, he was still very active. He was an activist ... for things to be the way they should be.

“He was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known, and not afraid to speak up for what he thought was right.”

Carter was born July 13, 1928, in Columbia, according to an oral history interview published in 2007 by the South Caroliniana Library. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School and Allen University, where he studied education and social studies.

He served two years in the Army. He was a high school teacher and, after getting a masters degree from Indiana University, went on to become a school guidance counselor who helped African-American students transition during the school integration process.

He later worked for the state Vocational Rehabilitation department, from which he retired in 1994.

His public service spanned even beyond his teaching, working for the state and leading the MLK neighborhood.

Carter served on numerous city boards over the years, including the city’s Design/Development Review Commission. He was a member of the East Central Consortium that worked to redevelop 1,000 acres between Five Points and Forest Acres.

He was a longtime election poll worker. And he planned the city’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. memorial program.

“Durham Carter is always involved, a true leader in Columbia,” former Mayor Bob Coble said in 2006. “He’s a friend and a supporter, but he always holds your feet to the fire.”

This story was originally published December 17, 2016 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Durham Carter, longtime Columbia neighborhood leader, dies."