President Jimmy Carter has passed at the age of 100. The 39th U.S. President passed today at his home in Plains, Georgia.
“Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the Carter Center confirmed.
In 1962, he became a State Senator and served two years, standing out as a proponent of anti-segregation. He lost a bid to become Georgia’s governor in 1966 to then racist politician Lester Maddox, but he would win the position in 1970 thanks largely to garnering Black voters across the state.
When Carter was elected, he declared that the era of segregation in Georgia was over.
Carter served as President from 1977 to 1981, achievements included transferring the Panama Canal to Panamanian ownership, negotiated the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt, and expanded public lands in Alaska and established formal diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
Carter continued his work after losing the presidency to Ronald Regan in 1980. The Carter Center’s philanthropic efforts helped to increase health and peace initiatives worldwide.
In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
He was placed in hospice in 2023, but his one wish was to remain alive long enough to vote for Kamala Harris during her bid for president. Carter was able to cast a vote for Harris during the 2024 Election.
National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial issued the following statement in response to the passing of former President Jimmy Carter.
“President Carter was that rarest of politicians who was driven by his faith and ideals rather than expediency. Just as he later would wield the tools at his disposal to build homes for people in need, he wielded every resource available to him as elected official and respected statesman to alleviate suffering, to dismantle oppression, and to advance peace and justice.
“Perhaps more than any modern president, Carter assumed the office with first-hand perspective on the impact of public policy on the lives of average Americans. He saw the poverty and indignity that segregation and discrimination forced upon the Black sharecroppers whose children were his closest friends. He saw his family’s farm transformed by the Rural Electrification Act and other New Deal programs.
“From his first days in public office, as a Georgia state senator at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, President Carter challenged laws enforcing voter suppression and school segregation. In his 1971 gubernatorial inauguration address, he declared, “The time for racial discrimination is over.” It was a radical declaration at the time. After Geroge Floyd’s murder in 2020, he repeated those words “with great sorrow and disappointment.
“He put his words into action as Governor, appointing a record number of Black officials and increasing the number of Black state employees by 40 percent. He continued this commitment when he became President. National Urban League Board of Trustees Vice Chair Alexis Herman served as his director of the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau and later rose to become the first Black Secretary of Labor.
“President Carter’s address to the National Urban League Conference in his first year of office sparked a national conversation about racial justice. President Carter responded to the challenges posed by then-Executive Director Vernon Jordan with an agenda that Jordan called hopeful and encouraging. Carter continued to consult regularly with Jordan throughout his term.
“His devotion to world peace, human rights, and social welfare earned him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, a milestone in a repost-presidency that was notable for both his longevity and his good works.
“The National Urban League and our nationwide network of 92 affiliates mourn the passing of President Carter and extend our deepest condolences to his children and grandchildren.”
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