[3] In 1932 Carnage passed the North Carolina bar examination and established a law practice in the Love Drug Store building in Raleigh,[3] thus becoming the second black lawyer in the city.
The residents signed a petition and Carnage lobbied before the North Carolina General Assembly to build the requisite facilities.
The issue resolved when the municipal government agreed to lay water and sewage infrastructure in the area.
[2][3] In the 1932 Carnage helped established a Negro Voters League, which successfully registered 1,500 black people to vote.
The Wake County Board of Elections struck the names from its registration roles, and Carnage and another attorney sued for them to be restored before the North Carolina Supreme Court.
[6] Carnage was opposed to racial segregation in businesses, and once told a judge that he believed if an establishment advertised itself as open to the public, it could not claim to discriminate against customers on the grounds that it operated on private property.
During World War II he created a United Service Organizations chapter to entertain black soldiers in Raleigh.