Jimmy Carter and his love of America's music

In 2018 I had the privilege of interviewing President Carter for a documentary about how music shaped his philosophy, his politics, and his view of the world.

Jimmy Carter grew up in the segregated South during the Depression. Racial barriers were strictly enforced. Carter transcended his upbringing in part, he said, because of the spirituals and gospel music he heard from his Black neighbors – and the jazz and swing that came over the family radio.

Racism could not prevail over the humanity in that music. Prejudice could not argue against its genius. And Jimmy Carter could not reconcile discrimination with the message of the gospels.