Wilmer Amina Carter was born in Neshoba County, Mississippi on July 12, 1941. As a child her family moved to San Bernardino, California where she completed her education, attending San Bernardino High School, San Bernardino Valley College, and California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). In 1972, she graduated from CSUSB with a Bachelor of Arts degree and went onto complete her Masters in Education in 1976. Carter worked under the late Congressman George Brown from 1973-1996, culminating in the appointment as his District Director. During a portion of this time, from 1983-1999, she also served on the Rialto Board of Education and the Wilmer Amina Carter High School in Rialto was named in her honor, becoming the first high school in the Inland Empire to be named after a living African American woman. In 2006, Carter was elected to the California State Assembly where she served three consecutive terms for the 62nd District until her retirement in 2012. Carter has spent most of her life in Rialto, California where she and her late husband, Ratibu Jacocks, were small business owners. The couple had three children together, Anye, Malika, and Jamala.