Forrest Carter: The controversial figure behind the novel

Forrest Carter: The controversial figure behind the novel

There’s little doubt about it; the author Forrest Carter was a controversial figure. I can’t produce anything new here, but thought I’d bring the rather interesting article from Wiki here – as it could easily be overlooked or missed. It’s a fascinating read, and of course Carter’s story remains a classic tale, but the author certainly carried a great deal of baggage. 

The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales is a 1973 American Western novel (also titled Gone to Texas in later editions) and was written by Asa Earl Carter (under the pen name Forrest Carter). It was adapted into the film The Outlaw Josey Wales directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. The novel was republished in 1975 under the title Gone to Texas.

Asa Earl Carter (September 4, 1925 – June 7, 1979) was an American segregationist and Ku Klux Klan organizer who was prominent in the 1950s for his activism and later as a Western fiction novelist, known as a co-writer of George Wallace's well-known pro-segregation line of 1963, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." He ran in the Democratic primary for governor of Alabama as a white supremacist. Later, under the pseudonym of supposedly Cherokee writer Forrest Carter, he wrote The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales (1972), a Western novel that was adapted into a 1976 film featuring Clint Eastwood that was added to the National Film Registry, and The Education of Little Tree (1976), a best-selling, award-winning book which was marketed as a memoir but which turned out to be fiction.

In 1976, following the success of The Rebel Outlaw and its film adaptation, The New York Times revealed Forrest Carter was actually Asa Carter. His background became national news again in 1991 after his purported memoir, The Education of Little Tree (1976), was re-issued in paperback, topping the Times paperback best-seller lists (both non-fiction and fiction) and winning the American Booksellers Book of the Year (ABBY) award.

Prior to his literary career as "Forrest", Carter was politically active for years in Alabama as an opponent of the civil rights movement. In the mid-1950s, he had a syndicated segregationist radio show, and worked as a speech writer for segregationist Governor George Wallace of Alabama. He also founded the North Alabama Citizens Council (NACC), an independent offshoot of the White Citizens' Council movement formed by Carter when the White Citizens' Council tried to moderate Carter's antisemitism. He also formed the militant and violent Ku Klux Klan group known as the Original Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy, and started a monthly publication titled The Southerner which spread white supremacist and anti-communist rhetoric.

Carter began work on his first novel, spending days researching in a public library in Sweetwater, Texas. He distanced himself from his past, began to call his sons "nephews" and renamed himself Forrest Carter, after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a general of the Confederate army who fought in the Civil War, and the first leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Carter's best-known fictional works are The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales (1972, republished in 1975 as Gone to Texas) and The Education of Little Tree (1976), the latter book originally published as a memoir. Although Little Tree sold modestly during Carter's life, it became a sleeper hit after his death.

Clint Eastwood directed and starred in a film adaptation of Josey Wales, retitled The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) after Carter sent the book to his offices as an unsolicited submission, and Eastwood's partner read and put his support behind it. At this time, neither man knew of Carter's past as a Klansman and rabid segregationist. In 1997, after the success of the paperback edition of The Education of Little Tree, a film adaptation was produced. Originally intended as a TV movie, it was given a theatrical release.

Carter's sequel to The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales, titled The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales (1976), was planned by Clint Eastwood as a possible film project, but the project was cancelled. The author's Watch for Me on the Mountain (1978) is a fictionalized biography of Geronimo. It was reprinted in 1980 in an edition titled Cry Geronimo!

Carter was working on The Wanderings of Little Tree, a sequel to The Education of Little Tree, as well as a screenplay version of the book, when he died in Abilene on June 7, 1979. The cause of death was reported to have been heart failure. However, the ambulance driver told one of Carter’s friends that he had a drunken fight with his son, fell, and choked on his own vomit. Carter's body was returned to Alabama for burial near Anniston, Alabama.

Below: Clint's early intensions from 1973, inside the book’s flysheet

What fascinates me about the first edition from 1973, is that inside the book’s flysheet Clint’s endorsement of the novel also states that he has marked the project for his next starring role. Remembering of course that this is 1973, some years before the movie went into production. Clint was still signed to Universal at this time – so I wonder if it was pitched and Universal had cold feet about the project? Interestingly enough Clint made his permanent move to Warner Brothers in 1975 when he signed a long-term contract with the studio. His production company, Malpaso Productions, also moved its base of operations to the Warner Bros. lot. Principal photography for The Outlaw Josey Wales began on October 6th, 1975, with filming taking place in various locations across the American West, including Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and California. 

This whole post came about after I recently found an original 1976 edition of Gone to Texas in paperback form. I’ve had the tie-in novel for many years which contains the poster artwork for its cover, but it had been a good few years since I had seen this book. It was in beautiful condition for its age, and at £4.00 seemed a bit of a bargain and of course it contained Clint’s endorsement on the reverse which still makes it rather special. 

So, Forrest Carter was actually a notorious white supremacist, Ku Klux Klan leader, and segregationist political figure from Alabama. In fact, he lived a double life, reinventing himself as a "Cherokee" author in Texas later in life – all of which is truly sad. Regardless of that fact, it is something I can never let stand in the way of my total enjoyment of a remarkable movie.