Forrest Carter

Forrest Carter, the author of the controversial memoir (now recognized as a work of fiction) "The Education of Little Tree," was the pen-name of Asa Earl Carter (September 4, 1925-June 7, 1979), a rabid segregationist who was an infamous racist propagandist in the 1960s. A leader of the White Citizens Council (a group dedicated to opposing desegregation and one that was generally considered to be a front group for the Ku Klux Klan) of North Alabama, Carter was the head of a "klavern" of the Ku Klux Klan. He was an unofficial speechwriter for segregationist Governor George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama and candidate for the Presidency (1968, '72). Asa Earl Carter wrote white supremacist literature, and was a major contributor to "The Southerner," a white-supremacist publication that he edited and published first under the aegis of the racist White Citizens Council. Originally accepted as an actual work by a Cherokee Indian, "The Education of Little Tree" ranks as one of the great literary hoaxes of American literature. Taking the pen of name Forrest Carter, he published three Westerns, including "The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales" that Clint Eastwood made into the 1976 hit movie The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). After the Eastwood film was released, the New York Times published a brief article pointing out similarities between "Forrest" Carter and Asa Carter, but "Forrest" denied the story and it was soon forgotten. In 1991, a reprint edition of his fake autobiography, The Education of Little Tree (1976) reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list. In a New York Times op-ed, historian Dan Carter confirmed his double identity. The popularity of the touching and gentle story of "Little Tree" led readers to assume that Asa/Forrest Carter had abandoned his earlier views, But, as historian Carter (no relation) documented in his recent biography, "Unmasking the Klansman" (2023) the former Klansman turned novelist remained a bitter racist until his death in 1979.