Black owned Georgia home honored with a historical marker

The Carter Family House, built in 1909, stands today as one of the few remaining historic Black residences in what was once a segregated Marietta.
Atlanta News First reported that Sarah Young and Oscar Carter, who purchased the downtown Cole Street home in 1944, have been honored with a historic marker dedicated to the only private residence remaining on the block.
Members of the Carter family and community leaders teamed up with the historical society, Cobb Landmarks, and the Marietta History Center’s Diverse Cobb Committee to keep the Carter’s legacy and history protected. The committee oversees a grant fund created to give historic home markers to qualifying homes in historic Black neighborhoods. Jo-Evelyn and Jim Morris, Marietta residents, established the fund with generous donations.
The Carter couple had four children and raised them in the house. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kenneth Carter bought the house after Sarah’s death. Jeanie Carter and her husband were longtime educators and change-makers in the Marietta school system. Jeanie made history as the first Black woman elected to the Marietta City School Board, where she served for 16 years.
The Carter family refused to sell the home when the Marietta Housing Authority acquired all of the property south of the Carter House, according to Atlanta News.
“The Carter family is taking this time to reflect on the significance of this place and their legacy in the City of Marietta,” Marcus Carter said, per The AJC.
The first home to receive a marker was the Hunter home, owned by Katie and Charlie Hunter, Sr. Per Marietta History, the patriarch was a trailblazing entrepreneur who was best known for the café he operated for decades just a block from his home. He was one of the very few business owners in Marietta who advertised in The Green Book, a hospitality resource for Black travelers.