Jimmy Carter: A man from Plains, Georgia [Video]

PLAINS, Ga. — Although Plains, Georgia, has made its mark as the birthplace and home of Jimmy Carter, the boy who became president spent his formative years in a place even smaller.  

Carter grew up two miles away in an unincorporated and predominantly Black community called Archery.  

“During the dry season when we were cultivating crops and planting and cultivating and harvesting, we were extremely busy in the field, and daddy was a very good taskmaster,” Carter said. “He taught me the benefits of hard work.”  

“Daddy” was Earl Carter, a larger-than-life farmer who successfully ran a country store in Archery and an agricultural warehouse in downtown Plains. Mama was Lillian Carter, a spirited woman who worked as a small-town nurse. When he graduated from Plains High School, Jimmy Carter went to a community college in nearby Americus and then Georgia Tech. …