From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

Lillie Mae Carter was born in Bowling Green, KY, the daughter of John and Maude W. Husky Bland. She was a two-time graduate of Tennessee State university where she earned a bachelor and master's degree. Carter was employed in the Toledo, Ohio, school system.

She was a protégé of Langston Hughes who encouraged Lillie M. Carter to continue to seek avenues for getting her work published. Carter is the author of a number of books, including a book of poems, Black Thoughts, and the anthology, Doing It Our Way. She was a member of several organizations, including the Verse Writers Guild of Ohio, the International Educational Society, Delta Kappa Gamma, and Phi Delta Kappa. 

Lillie Mae Carter Bland was the wife of Leon John Carter, Jr., and the mother of Leon J. Carter, III and three other children. The family lived in Toledo, OH, where Lillie M. Carter died in 1982. She had retired the previous year from the Martin Luther King School where she had taught for 30 years as a teacher and reading specialist. 

For more see The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians, by A. A. Dunnigan; Niedermeier, Lynn. "My Friend and Critic." An article in the Western Kentucky University Libraries blog, 19 February 2024; The Lillie Mae Bland Carter papers are part of the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives at Western Kentucky University Special Collections Library (finding aid); see "Lillie Carter: Toledo poet, retired public schoolteacher." The Blade, 16 June 1982, p.8.