| Summary: | Writer and performer Carl F. Ray was born on August 30, 1944 in Butler, Alabama to Vidella and George Ray. In 1962, a white man killed his father because Ray did not call the man "sir." Ray overcame guilt and depression, graduating from Tuskegee Institute in Alabama with his B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1967. By the late 1970s, Ray left engineering to perform standup comedy. In 1990, he also began working as a motivational speaker which inspired him to write his play, A Killing in Chocktaw, exploring the difficulties Ray faced in the years following his father's death. The play was turned into a documentary in 2004. In 1988, Ray and his wife, Brenda, ran Courtland Esteem School from their home, helping to educate African American children and taking students on tours of traditionally black colleges. Ray passed away on September 17, 2014 at age 70.
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