The first woman to shoot photographs as a staffer for the Atlanta Constitution has died.
Carolyn McKenzie Carter graduated from the University of Georgia in 1940. Soon after, Ralph McGill, the legendary editor of the Atlanta Constitution, hired her as the first female photojournalist at the newspaper, according to the Web site of the university's journalism school.
Carter died Wednesday at age 91, the school reported.
The Moultrie native shot pictures and wrote stories for the paper before it merged with the Atlanta Journal. She later worked on the Atlanta Journal Sunday Magazine.
After newspaper work, Carter, whose maiden name was Carolyn McKenzie, wrote and edited stories for specialized publications at the Coca-Cola Company. Then, she moved with husband Don Carter to New York in 1959, according to the University of Georgia. The couple met while covering the same story -- he for the Journal and she for the Constitution -- and married during World War II.
In New York, Carolyn Carter worked as a freelance writer and photographer for the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Travel.
In 1986, the department created the Carolyn Carter Award in her name to honor travel photographers who exhibit a commitment to tourism, a major Georgia industry.
Journal-Constitution columnist Celestine Sibley, a legend in her own right, recalled meeting the young McKenzie while applying for a job at the Constitution. In a 1997 column, Sibley wrote that she met Mckenzie in an old, "creaky cage" of an elevator at the Constitution.
McKenzie had a camera case slung over her shoulder.
"She works here, I thought enviously," Sibley wrote. "Oh, I hope I do!"
The Carters retired to Sea Island in 1982. In 2004, the couple established the Don E. and Carolyn McKenzie Carter Chair for Journalism at the University of Georgia.
