Dorothy Carter, Broadway actress, teacher and children’s book author, dies in New York at 94

NEW YORK, N.Y. – A former stage actress who starred in the adaptation of the groundbreaking novel “Strange Fruit” on Broadway and later became an educator and a children’s book author has died. Dorothy Carter was 94.

Family friend Mary Zaslofsky says Carter died Sept. 14 in New York after battling bladder cancer.

Carter earned three credits on Broadway in the 1940s and 1950s before becoming a teacher. She taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and became the first female African-American professor at Bank Street College of Education in New York City.

She also wrote three children’s books inspired by her childhood: “Bye, Mis’ Lela”, “Wilhe’mia Miles: After the Stork Night” and “Grandma’s General Store — the Ark.”