Over the four decades since Jimmy Carter left the White House to head back to his hometown of Plains, Georgia–the unassuming farming town of 700 people nestled inside the quiet spaciousness of Southwest Georgia–millions of folks from around the world of every race, culture and creed have made the pilgrimage to Plains for an extraordinary glimpse into the simple life of America’s longest-living President and former First Lady.

But Plains’ position as the world’s visitor center is haunted by its past. Anchored in America's storied Deep South, Plains perimeters major civil rights conflicts of the 1950's and 60's, where long-upheld segregationist platforms isolated and abused integrationist stands. Just a few decades ago, the town occupied national headlines as Plains Baptist Church refused to allow Black people membership on the grounds that they would not be admitted into Heaven. Even President Carter's own parents, Earl Carter, Sr. and Lillian Carter, held starkly opposing views on race relations while raising the future leader of the Free World, a position Carter secured in part because of his progressive stance on a racially-integrated New South.

So how does a township built of hard-working people who prize morality and family values still suffer the segregated divisions of race and contentions of equality even while under the influence of the Carters’ lifelong pledge to pursue peace, promote human rights, and perpetuate “liberty and justice for all?”

This is the story. And this is the dilemma of the place, the people, and the president from Plains. This is ... Plainspoken.