Summary Of An Hour Before Daylight By Jimmy Carter

An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood by Jimmy Carter

Carter, Jimmy. An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood. New York:

Simon & Schuster, 2001. Print.

288 pages An Hour Before Daylight is an autobiography written by our thirty-ninth president of the United States, Jimmy Carter. He tells the story of his life from his childhood growing up in Avery, Georgia during the depression. His father was a farmer who had many sharecroppers living on his property working his farm. Jack Clark, who was one of the sharecroppers, would go to the main barn each morning around 4 o’clock am and would ring the bell for all sharecroppers to wake up and start the day hence the title An Hour Before Daylight. Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter says looking back they were very poor by today’s standards. His dad owned a store on the main street in plains, owned his farm, did some teaching and was very involved in the community. His mom was a nurse and would often help people who were sick and needed medical attention. She delivered many babies and helped everyone regardless of their color which in that time was very unusual. His father always referred to himself as fair but Jimmy Carter thought he still kept racial divide a part of his

His name was Willis Wright. He was very active in leading a strike against landowners for a raise of 25 cents. Many of the shareholders got together at a church and organized a walk out. When none of the Carter’s workers showed up for work Mr. Carter went to each and every house telling them that they would report to work in the morning or they would be asked to pack all of their belongings and leave. Willis Wright came to Mr. Carter and convinced him that all of his workers were loyal to him but could no longer continue to work without more money. Mr. Carter agreed to give them one dollar and twenty-five cents a day but only because all other landowners had done the same but not because he felt pressured by the black man. Jimmy Carter remembered this and admired Willis Wright for his courage. Years later, when blacks were given the right to vote he came to Jimmy Carter telling him in order to register to vote he had to answer this long questionare. Jimmy Carter told him to go back to the office and tell them he had spoken to Jimmy Carter and he needed to register to