Family history has made a significant impact on Quamina Carter and likely informs her success as the vice president of student affairs, dean of students and chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee at Claremont Graduate University in the Inland Empire.
Carter’s family, in particularly her grandfather, always stressed the importance of education and diversity and that emphasis has guided her in life as well as inspired her counsel shared with students and colleagues.
“My grandfather would always speak about the importance of commitment, education, and about inclusivity. It was impressed upon us at an early age that we should be open and accepting,” recalled Carter, who noted, “My grandfather was really ahead of his time.”
Her grandfather, Walter J. Palmer, was actually a trailblazer in the annals of Black history. A documented original Tuskegee airman, 1st Lieutenant Palmer served as a pilot with the renowned Red Tails during World War II. He named his plane “The Duchess” and he flew 158 missions. But his road to this achievement was fraught with challenges.
Palmer was born and raised in New York City, the son of Jamaican immigrants. He loved airplanes from an early age and even attended an aviation-oriented high school. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Palmer volunteered for the Army Air Force, but it took nine months before he was accepted due to limited facilities for Black cadets.
“While waiting to receive notice, my grandfather found out he had been accepted by the New York City Police Department, [but instead of accepting that job], my grandfather decided to wait and hear back from the Air Corps,” Carter said. “I’m glad he waited for his true love which was to fly.”
However, Palmer encountered another disappointment after the war when he and another airman had a traffic accident, and first responders wouldn’t take him to a military medical unit or to the nearest hospital because he was Black. After hours passed, Palmer was finally transported to a hospital, but by the time he arrived, Palmer was blind in his left eye.
“He was pilot and because [of the blindness], he had to retire from the military. That was the catalyst for my grandparents to pack up their children and move to Mexico,” said Carter.
“There was a lot of hurt there, after he had fought for the war, came back home and was treated this way. So, they packed up and they left the country, which is where my mother and her brothers completed high school in Guadalajara, Mexico.”
The move by Carter’s grandparents exposed her family to diverse nationalities, cultures, food and more along with helping them to appreciate the differences in people. Although they resided in Mexico, her grandparents retained their property in the U.S., so relatives traveled back-and-forth between the two homesteads.
“We grew up going [to Mexico] every summer and again, it was impressed upon us at an early age, and pretty consistently, that we should be open and accepting. We’ve found that through exposing ourselves and immersing ourselves with different cultures and through our travels,” noted the vice president.
Also, Carter credits her grandfather with displaying “discipline and commitment to see a project through” – traits that rubbed off on her and other family members In addition, she observed that while her and Palmer have different professions, their fields connect around education.
“Education is the activism piece. I do believe I got that from him, and it is very much a pillar of what I do,” said Carter, who is a graduate of Tuskegee University.
“What I mean by that is access to education and being able to use your education, your credentials, your experiences, your skills and knowledge to continue to create pathways for those often overlooked or disadvantaged and to speak up for the things that are wrong and to make sure that we’re constantly moving the needle forward on the things that are right,” she expounded.
“So, I know that that absolutely comes directly from him, even though our fields and our professions are very different.”
