Hannibal Caesar Carter (February 1835–June 1, 1904)[1] was the Secretary of State of Mississippi from September 1 to October 20, 1873, and from November 13, 1873, to January 4, 1874, serving the first term after being appointed when Hiram R. Revels resigned.[2][3][4][5][6] He also served two non-consecutive terms representing Warren County in the Mississippi House of Representatives, the first from 1872 to 1873 the second from 1876 to 1877, both times as a Republican.[1][7][6] In later years he changed his affiliation to Democratic.[8] He was one of several African Americans to serve as Mississippi Secretary of State during the Reconstruction era.[9]
Carter was born in New Albany, Indiana, in February 1835, to a free Black family, then moving to Toronto, Canada for his early childhood.[1] He and his brother, Edward E. Carter, [10] served in the Native Guards of Louisiana and then both became Captains in the United States Coloured Troops[11].[12][13] His father was George Washington Carter, free Black businessman, Freemason, and active member of the Underground Railroad.
He helped establish the Freedmen's Oklahoma Immigration Association in Chicago in 1881.[14]
He spent his later life in Chicago, Illinois, where he then died at home June 1, 1904 at the age of 69.[8]
