(Georgia Recorder) — Jimmy Carter would chart a new course for the state at the start of his four-year term serving as Georgia’s governor when he used his inauguration address in 1971 to assert a public stand against the racial segregation that still maintained its popularity among many white Georgians.
Carter’s iconic speech that explicitly declared the end of racial discrimination against Black people and other minorities would become a symbol of Carter’s philosophy during and after a political career that saw him rise to the prominence of becoming U.S. president, before his presidency ended four years later when he lost his reelection bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Carter’s civil rights legacy as governor includes his famous inauguration speech calling for the end of segregation, his efforts to significantly increase the number of Black people working in state government, and his decision to hang a Martin Luther King Jr. portrait inside the state Capitol.
Carter died Dec. 29 at his modest Plains home while surrounded by family. The 100-year-old was the longest-living president in American history and the only Georgian to lead the country.
As a candidate, Carter was able to successfully implement a campaign strategy to court votes from pro-segregationists in order to overcome the favored candidate for governor, Carl Sanders, in the 1970 Democratic primary.
Sanders was seeking a second term as Georgia governor, after previously winning the 1962 election. Sanders was a moderate who led the transition away from racial segregation. Carter campaigned as a populist while attacking Sanders as favoring integration and proclaiming the outgoing segregationist Gov. Lester Maddox as the beacon of the Democratic Party.
However, much to the surprise of many Georgians, Carter’s inauguration remarks on racial equality stood in stark contrast to Maddox, an outspoken white supremacist who infamously used the threat of violence to keep Blacks from dining at his Atlanta restaurant.
On Jan. 12, 1971, Carter delivered this line at his gubernatorial inauguration: “The time for racial discrimination is over.”
Carter’s inauguration speech would place him under a new national spotlight, earning him a place on the cover of Time magazine and a prominent feature in the New York Times.
“When he was actually inaugurated in January 1971, he shocked many people, many people that voted for him and in the previous election with his really clear, definitive statements saying that the time for racial separation, racial conflict is over,” said Joseph Crespino, the Jimmy Carter professor of History at Emory University. “That’s what put him on the national radar. The way he ran his gubernatorial administration, in appointing the most African-Americans of any governor of Georgia up to that point, made clear where he stood on on racial issues.”
Carter would become governor of the Peach State on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement era as prominent Black Georgians like King fought to overturn the longstanding dominance of white supremacy. Carter would go on to deliver on the promise he made to civil rights leaders that he would take an anti-segregation stance if elected as governor.
During his four years as governor, Carter is credited with supporting several progressive policies advancing civil rights, including the appointment of several Black judges, expanded opportunities for women and minorities in state government, and working to eliminate racial discrimination in education and housing.
Former Democratic state Rep. Calvin Smyre, who was the state’s longest-serving legislator until he stepped down in 2023, said he met Carter for the first time during his presidential campaign in 1975 and stumped for him in Mississippi and South Carolina as a 27-year-old freshman representative.
In 1984, Smyre would become the first Black Georgia legislator elected to the Democratic National Committee and in 1987 would become the first Black floor leader at the state Capitol since Reconstruction after his appointment by Gov. Joe Frank Harris.
“It’s a sad day,” said Smyre about Carter’s death. “A giant pine tree has fallen in the Georgia forests, and President Carter, Gov. Carter, did much to lift the lives of so many people around the world.”
Smyre said Carter will be remembered in Georgia for his role in advancing racial equality.
“When you think about Jimmy Carter’s upbringing and how he had a turnaround in terms of race relations, it’s a remarkable story, and the fact of the matter is he, once he did that, a lot of people shunned him politically, and it was not an easy task during his term as governor in the Georgia General Assembly.
“When I was elected, there were 90 Black legislators in America, now there are nearly 800,” he said. “So we stand on the shoulders of courageous people like Jimmy Carter, who at the time, that was not a welcome message in the political terrain that we lived in in those days.
Georgia state Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick, a Lithonia Democrat, praised Carter for making the state government more inclusive.
According to the Carter Center, there were only three African Americans serving on state boards and commissions when Carter took office as governor and 53 when he left. Carter appointed more women and minorities to his staff, the judiciary and major state boards and agencies than all of his predecessors combined.
“One of the things that President Carter was able to do is to bring together people from different backgrounds around the state of Georgia and really put them in positions to be able to represent the state of Georgia,” Kendrick said. “The state is over 33.5% African American right now, and other nationalities, so you see that because of his efforts, there are a lot of people that are here in the state from different backgrounds. We need to always make sure that whoever our leaders are reflecting that, and he did a great job of starting that.”
Prior to Carter becoming a state senator, he served as chairman of the Sumter County school board where he took the unpopular stance of supporting the desegregation of public schools.
Carter’s successful gubernatorial election would coincide with a couple other progressive Southern Democratic candidates winning elections in states like Arkansas and South Carolina.
“Hanging the portrait of Martin Luther King was very much the opposite of what his predecessor, Gov. Maddox, had done,” said University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock. “Maddox hunkers down by saying he expects there to be all kinds of riots at the time of the King funeral. Carter countered by saying (King) is a great Georgian, and therefore we’re gonna put his portrait here in the Capitol.”
Bullock said while Carter’s time as governor was hampered because Georgia governors at the time were prohibited from serving consecutive terms, that restriction also made it easier for Carter to advocate for civil rights. Carter being a progressive Southern Democrat also paved the way for running a successful campaign on the national stage, he said.
“At least in terms of his Georgia political ambitions, it wasn’t like he was constrained by ‘gee I better not do this because it’s going to cost me when I run for re-election,’” Bullock said. “ He was free of that kind of consideration. And to the extent he was beginning to think about running for president, from the Civil War on, Southerners were essentially blocked from becoming president because of their stance on issues of race.”
Carter’s dedication to civil rights and inclusive policies would play out during his four years as U.S. president and his humanitarian efforts that continued afterward for the rest of his life.
As a dark-horse presidential candidate Carter narrowly defeated incumbent Gerald Ford in 1976 and served one term as president before his loss to Reagan.
During Carter’s presidency, he made significant civil and human rights achievements. Post-presidency, Carter’s humanitarian work, including efforts to eradicate guinea worm in Africa and promote democracy globally, was unprecedented for a former president, political experts said.
Crespino said Carter’s gubernatorial campaign strategy in his run for the Georgia governor’s mansion would be successful enough to get him elected, but was also an example of the political gamesmanship that often occurs. Carter would later express regret about trying to curry support from pro-segregationists.
“It was a pragmatic decision that you can’t do anything good if you’re not in the office to gain,” Crespino said. “It was a very pragmatic, political decision of how can I best position myself to win this? This is what politicians do. It’s not a pretty business a lot of times and having lost the race in (1966) he was determined to position himself the best way he could win.”
Kendrick said she hopes to emulate Carter’s honesty as lawmakers gavel back into session Monday.
“His work around being honest and transparent when he speaks to constituents, I think that’s something that’s obviously very missing from our politics today,” she said. “In the past few days, I’ve learned a lot about his promises he made to always tell the truth, even if it cost him an election, so I think I’ll take that with me as session starts in the next few days.”
