Roland Carter was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1942. He received his bachelor’s degree in music education at Hampton University. He then went on to receive his master’s from New York University where he studied piano, composition, and choral music.

Beginning in 1965, Carter began working as a professor at Hampton University, eventually become the chair of the department of music, and leading the University’s choir. He stayed at Hampton University until 1989; moving to the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. He taught there until his retirement in 2013.

Carter devoted his career to highlighting African American composers. From 2003 to 2009, he served as the president of the National Association of Negro Musicians. He also has a publishing company called MAR-VEL where he publishes choral compositions by African American composers. His work brought him to Carnegie Hall, where he conducted the venue’s first-ever African American music series.

Carter received an honorary doctorate from Shaw University, and has donated his archive to his former place of work at the University of Tennessee.

-Lucy Koukoudian

This profile was created during the 2023-2024 academic year as part of the Song of America Fellowship Program, a project of the Classic Song Research Initiative between the Hampsong Foundation and the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.