Quick Facts
Biography
Lawrence Carter is an American historian, civil rights expert, and Professor of Religion and Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College. Crater is the founder of the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel Assistants Pre-seminarians Program.
Early life and education
Lawrence Carter was born in Georgia to John and Bernice Carter. He grew up in Ohio eventually receiving his B.A. degree from Virginia University of Lynchburg and his M. Div., S.T.M., and Ph.D. degrees from Boston University.
Career
After graduating he was asked to serve as an Associate Dean of Daniel L. Marsh Chapel at Boston University. After that he taught at Harvard University Divinity School and served as coordinator of African American studies at Simmons College.
Carter also founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel Assistants Pre-seminarians Program at Morehouse. In 1982, he began lecturing at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
He commissioned the Gandhi Ikeda King Hassan Institute for Ethics and Reconciliation in 1999, and created the Gandhi-King-Ikeda Community Builder’s Prize of the Morehouse Chapel in 2001.
Lawrence Carter was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 15, 2010.
Awards and honors
Carter has received four honorary degrees from the following three schools: Lincoln University, Al al-Bayt University, and Soka University of Japan. He has received the following awards:
- Seikyo Award for Highest Honor
- Trumpet Award for Spirituality.
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow (x2)
- Fulbright-Hayes Scholar
Select works
- Walking Integrity: Benjamin Elijah Mays, Mentor to Martin Luther King Jr.
- Global Ethical Options, in the Tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Daisaku Ikeda