Fannie Lou Hamer (; Townsend; October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American

voting Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist,

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

, and a leader in the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

. She was the co-founder and vice-chair of the Freedom Democratic Party, which she represented at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Hamer also organized

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Freedom Summer Freedom Summer, also known as the Freedom Summer Project or the Mississippi Summer Project, was a volunteer campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi. ...

along with the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...

(SNCC). She was also a co-founder of the

National Women's Political Caucus The National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), or the Caucus, describes itself as a multi-partisan grassroots organization in the United States dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting women who seek elected and appointed offices at all ...

, an organization created to recruit, train, and support women of all races who wish to seek election to government office. Hamer began civil rights activism in 1962, continuing until her health declined nine years later. She was known for her use of spiritual

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

s and quotes and her resilience in leading the civil rights movement for black women in Mississippi. She was

extort Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, al ...

ed, threatened, harassed, shot at, and assaulted by

racists Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, including members of the police, while trying to register for and exercise her right to vote. She later helped and encouraged thousands of African-Americans in Mississippi to become

registered voters In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The ru ...

and helped hundreds of disenfranchised people in her area through her work in programs like the

Freedom Farm Cooperative Freedom Farm Cooperative was an agricultural cooperative in Sunflower County, Mississippi, founded by American civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer in 1969 as a rural economic development and political organizing project. With a farm and a pi ...

. She unsuccessfully ran for the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

in 1964 and the

Mississippi State Senate The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol ...

in 1971, losing to John C. Stennis. In 1970, she led legal action against the government of

Sunflower County, Mississippi Sunflower County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,450. Its largest city and county seat is Indianola. Sunflower County comprises the Indianola, MS Micropolitan Statistical Are ...

for continued illegal

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of humans ...

. Hamer died on March 14, 1977, aged 59, in

Mound Bayou, Mississippi Mound Bayou is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,533 at the 2010 census, down from 2,102 in 2000. It was founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery. Mound ...

. Her memorial service was widely attended and her

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a ...

was delivered by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

Andrew Young Andrew Jackson Young Jr. (born March 12, 1932) is an American politician, diplomat, and activist. Beginning his career as a pastor, Young was an early leader in the civil rights movement, serving as executive director of the Southern Christian L ...

. She was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.

Early life, family, and education

Fannie was born on October 6, 1917, in

Montgomery County, Mississippi Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,925. Its county seat is Winona. The county is said to be named in honor either of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolution ...

, the last of the 20 children of Ella and James Lee Townsend. After some of their animal stock was mysteriously poisoned, she suspected a local racist had done it; she said of this incident: "our stock got poisoned. We knowed this white man had done it ..... That white man did it just because we were gettin' somewhere. White people never like to see Negroes get a little success. All of this stuff is no secret in the state of Mississippi." In 1919, the Townsends moved to

, to work as

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

s on W. D. Marlow's

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

. From age six, Fannie picked cotton with her family. During the winters of 1924 through 1930, she attended the

one-room school One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

provided for the sharecroppers' children, open between picking seasons. Fannie loved reading and excelled in spelling bees and reciting

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

, but at age 12 she had to leave school to help support her aging parents. By age 13, she would pick 200–300 pounds (90 to 140 kg) of cotton daily while living with

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

. Fannie continued to develop her reading and interpretation skills in Bible study at her church; in later years

Lawrence Guyot Lawrence Guyot Jr. (July 17, 1939 – November 23, 2012) was an American civil rights activist and the director of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964. Biography Guyot was a native of Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he was rai ...

admired her ability to connect "the biblical exhortations for liberation and he struggle for civil rightsany time that she wanted to and move in and out to any frames of reference". In 1944, after the plantation owner discovered her literacy, she was selected as its

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

and record keeper. The following year she married Perry "Pap" Hamer, a tractor driver on the Marlow plantation, and they remained there for the next 18 years. Hamer and her husband wanted very much to start a family but in 1961, a white doctor subjected Hamer to a

hysterectomy Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus. It may also involve removal of the cervix, ovaries (oophorectomy), Fallopian tubes (salpingectomy), and other surrounding structures. Usually performed by a gynecologist, a hysterectomy may b ...

without her consent while she was undergoing surgery to remove a

uterine The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ...

tumor.

Forced sterilization Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, is a government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually done throug ...

was a common method of population control in Mississippi that targeted poor, African-American women. Members of the Black community called the procedure a "Mississippi appendectomy". The Hamers later raised two girls they adopted. One died of internal hemorrhaging after she was denied admission to the local hospital because of her mother's activism. Hamer became interested in the

in the 1950s. She heard leaders in the local movement speak at annual

Regional Council of Negro Leadership The Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL) was a society in Mississippi founded by T. R. M. Howard in 1951 to promote a program of civil rights, self-help, and business ownership. It pledged "to guide our people in their civic responsibili ...

(RCNL) conferences, held in

. The yearly conferences discussed black voting rights and other civil rights issues black communities in the area faced.

Civil rights activism

White racist attacks

On August 31, 1962, Hamer and 17 others attempted to vote but failed a

literacy test A literacy test assesses a person's literacy skills: their ability to read and write have been administered by various governments, particularly to immigrants. In the United States, between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were administered t ...

, which meant she was denied this right. She was fired by her boss, but her husband was required to stay on the land until the end of the harvest.Badger, p. 70 Hamer moved between homes over the next several days for protection. On September 10, while staying with friend Mary Tucker, Hamer was shot at 15 times in a

drive-by A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

shooting by

.. From the Fannie Lou Hamer Papers, 1966–1978 No one was injured in the event. The next day Hamer and her family evacuated to nearby

Tallahatchie County Tallahatchie County is a county in the U.S. state of Mississippi. At the 2020 census, the population was 12,715. Its county seats are Charleston and Sumner. Tallahatchie County is located in the Mississippi Delta region, divided by the Tall ...

for three months, fearing retaliation by the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

for her attempt to vote. On December 4, just after returning to her hometown, she went to the

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

in Indianola to take the literacy test again, but failed and was turned away. Hamer told the

registrar A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to: Education * Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records * Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the se ...

that "You'll see me every 30 days till I pass".

Registering to vote

On January 10, 1963, Hamer took the literacy test a third time. She was successful and was informed that she was now a registered voter in the State of Mississippi. However, when she attempted to vote that fall, she discovered her registration gave her no actual power to vote as her county also required voters to have two poll tax receipts. This requirement had emerged in some (mostly former

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

) states after the right to vote was first given to all races by the 1870

ratification Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent that lacked the authority to bind the principal legally. Ratification defines the international act in which a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties inten ...

of the

Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ...

. These laws along with the

literacy tests A literacy test assesses a person's literacy skills: their ability to read and write have been administered by various governments, particularly to immigrants. In the United States, between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were administered t ...

and local government acts of coercion, were used against blacks and Native Americans. Hamer later paid for and acquired the requisite poll tax receipts. {{quote box, width=250px, align=, quote=They talked about how it was our right, that we could register and vote. I had never heard, until 1962, that black people could register and vote., source=—Fannie Lou Hamer {{quote box, width=250px, align=, quote=We been waitin' all our lives, and still gettin' killed, still gettin' hung, still gettin' beat to death. Now we're tired waitin'!, source=—Fannie Lou Hamer Hamer began to become more involved in the

after these incidents. She attended many

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...

s (SCLC), which she at times taught classes for, and also various SNCC (read as Snick) workshops. She traveled to gather signatures for petitions to attempt to be granted federal resources for impoverished black families across the south. She also became a

field secretary Field secretary is a position within various civil rights organizations in the United States, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In the NAACP, it ...

for voter registration and welfare programs for SNCC. Many of these first actions to attempt to register more black voters in Mississippi were met with the same problems Hamer had had in trying to register herself.{{Cite journal , date=February 11, 2012 , title=VOD Journal-Volume 6 (2011) – Voices of Democracy , url=http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/vod-journal-volume-6/ , journal=Voices of Democracy , language=en-US , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808230632/http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/vod-journal-volume-6/ , archive-date=August 8, 2017 , df=mdy-all

Police brutality

After becoming a field secretary for SNCC in 1963, Hamer decided to attend a pro-citizenship conference by the

(SCLC) in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. Travelling by bus with co-activists, the party stopped for a break in

Winona, Mississippi } Winona is a city in Montgomery County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,043 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County. Winona is known in the local area as "The Crossroads of North Mississippi"; the interse ...

. Some of the activists went inside a local cafe, but were refused service by the waitress. Shortly after, a Mississippi State highway patrolman took out his billy club and intimidated the activists into leaving. One of the group decided to take down the officer's license plate number; while doing so the patrolman and a police chief entered the cafe and arrested the party. Hamer left the bus and inquired if they could continue their journey back to

Greenwood, Mississippi Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, and 130 miles south of the riverp ...

. At that point the officers arrested her as well.{{cite news, last=Michals, first=Debra, title=Fannie Lou Hamer, publisher=National Women's History Museum, date=2017, url=https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/fannie-lou-hamer Once in county jail, Hamer's colleagues were beaten by the police in the booking room (including 15-year-old June Johnson, for not addressing officers as "sir").{{cite web, last1=Hamer, first1=Fannie Lou, title=Testimony Before the Credentials Committee, Democratic National Convention, url=http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/sayitplain/flhamer.html, publisher=American Public Media, access-date=March 3, 2015, date=August 22, 1964, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211180421/http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/sayitplain/flhamer.html, archive-date=February 11, 2015, df=mdy-all{{cite news , url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/02/remembering-civil-rights-heroine-fannie-lou-hamer-i-m-sick-and-tired-of-being-sick-and-tired.html , title=Remembering Civil Rights Heroine Fannie Lou Hamer: 'I'm Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired' , work=The Daily Beast , date=September 2, 2014 , access-date=March 3, 2015 , author=Joiner, Lottie , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402111603/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/02/remembering-civil-rights-heroine-fannie-lou-hamer-i-m-sick-and-tired-of-being-sick-and-tired.html , archive-date=April 2, 2015 , df=mdy-all Hamer was then taken to a cell where two inmates were ordered, by the state trooper, to beat her using a

blackjack Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...

. The police ensured she was held down during the almost fatal beating, and when she started to scream, beat her further. Hamer was also groped repeatedly by officers during the assault. When she attempted to resist, she stated an officer, "walked over, took my dress, pulled it up over my shoulders, leaving my body exposed to five men". Another in her group was beaten until she was unable to talk; a third, a teenager, was beaten, stomped on, and stripped.{{sfn, Marsh, 1997, page=21 An activist from SNCC came the next day to see if he could help but was beaten until his eyes were swollen shut when he did not address an officer in the expected deferential manner.{{cite news , url=http://www.alternet.org/activism/black-women-are-beaten-sexually-assaulted-and-killed-police-why-dont-we-talk-about-it , title=Black Women Are Beaten, Sexually Assaulted and Killed By Police. Why Don't We Talk About It? , work=AlterNet , date=February 26, 2015 , access-date=March 4, 2015 , author=Fierce, Tasha , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305213921/http://www.alternet.org/activism/black-women-are-beaten-sexually-assaulted-and-killed-police-why-dont-we-talk-about-it , archive-date=March 5, 2015 , df=mdy-all Hamer was released on June 12, 1963. She needed more than a month to recuperate from the beatings and never fully recovered. Though the incident left profound physical and psychological effects, including a

blood clot A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of ...

over her left eye and permanent damage on one of her

kidneys The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; bloo ...

,{{sfn, Marsh, 1997, page=22 Hamer returned to Mississippi to organize voter registration drives, including the 1963 Freedom Ballot, a

mock election A mock election is an election for educational demonstration, amusement, or political protest reasons to call for free and fair elections. Less precisely it can refer to a real election purely for advisory (essentially without power) committees o ...

, and the "Freedom Summer" initiative the following year. She was known to the volunteers of Freedom Summer as a motherly figure who believed that the civil rights effort should be multi-racial in nature. In addition to her "Northern" guests, Hamer played host to

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...

student activists Sammy Younge Jr. and Wendell Paris.{{Cite news , url=https://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/02/27/fannie-lou-hamer-champion-voting-rights-view/98292790/ , title=Fannie Lou Hamer, champion of voting rights: View , date=February 27, 2017 , work=USA Today Network , access-date=February 13, 2018 , language=en , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315174954/http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/02/27/fannie-lou-hamer-champion-voting-rights-view/98292790/ , archive-date=March 15, 2017 , df=mdy-all Younge and Paris grew to become profound activists and organizers under Hamer's tutelage. (Younge was murdered in 1966 at a

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

gas station in

Macon County, Alabama Macon County is a county located in the east central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,532. Its county seat is Tuskegee. Its name is in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a member of the United States Senat ...

, for using a "whites-only" restroom.){{cite news , url=http://newsone.com/2824521/samuel-sammy-younge-jr/ , title=Sammy Younge Killed For Using Whites-Only Bathroom On This Day In 1966 , work=News One , date=January 3, 2014 , access-date=March 7, 2015 , author=Chandler, D. L. , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317235409/http://newsone.com/2824521/samuel-sammy-younge-jr/ , archive-date=March 17, 2015 , df=mdy-all

Freedom Democratic Party and Congressional run

{{external media, float=width=230px, audio
Audio of Hamer's testimony
} In 1964, Hamer helped co-found the

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), also referred to as the Freedom Democratic Party, was an American political party created in 1964 as a branch of the populist Freedom Democratic organization in the state of Mississippi during the ...

(MFDP), in an effort to prevent the regional all-white

Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

's attempts to stifle African-American voices, and to ensure there was a party for all people that did not stand for any form of exploitation and discrimination (especially towards minorities).{{Cite web , url=https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/fannie-lou-hamer , title=Fannie Lou Hamer , last=Michals , first=Debra , date=2017 , website=National Women's History Museum , language=en , access-date=February 13, 2018 Following the founding of the MFDP, Hamer and other activists traveled to the 1964 Democratic National Convention to stand as the official delegation from the state of Mississippi. Hamer's televised testimony was interrupted because of a scheduled speech that President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

gave to 30 governors in the White House East Room, but most major news networks broadcast her testimony later that evening to the nation, giving Hamer and the MFDP much exposure. {{blockquote, All of this is on account we want to register, to become first-class citizens, and if the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America. Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives are threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings in America?, Fannie Lou Hamer

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Hubert Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...

tried to propose a compromise on Johnson's behalf that would give the Freedom Democratic Party two seats. He said this would lead to a reformed convention in 1968. The MFDP rejected the compromise, with Hamer saying, "We didn't come all the way up here to compromise for no more than we'd gotten here. We didn't come all this way for no two seats when all of us is tired."{{sfn, Dittmer, 1993, p=20{{cite news , url=http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/black-mississippians-create-legacy/article_9811ec34-2bdd-11e4-92f4-0019bb2963f4.html , title=Black Mississippians create legacy , work=Press of Atlantic City , date=August 24, 2014 , access-date=March 4, 2015 , author=Lemongello, Steven , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043502/http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/black-mississippians-create-legacy/article_9811ec34-2bdd-11e4-92f4-0019bb2963f4.html , archive-date=March 4, 2016 , df=mdy-all Afterward, all the white members from the Mississippi delegation walked out. In 1968, the MFDP was finally seated after the Democratic Party adopted a clause that demanded equality of representation from their states' delegations.{{cite news , url=http://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/2014/08/26/fannie-lou-hamer-still-endangered-right-vote/14625007/ , title=Fannie Lou Hamer, and the still-endangered right to vote , work=The Indianapolis Star , date=August 26, 2014 , agency=Gannett , access-date=March 4, 2015 , author=Draper, Alan In 1972, Hamer was elected as a national party delegate. Rhetorical practices Hamer traveled around the country speaking at various colleges, universities, and institutions.{{Cite book, date=2010-12-03, editor-last=Brooks, editor-first=Maegan Parker, editor2-last=Houck, editor2-first=Davis W., title=The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer, url=http://dx.doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781604738223.001.0001, doi=10.14325/mississippi/9781604738223.001.0001, isbn=9781604738223 She was not rich, as confirmed by her clothing and vernacular. Moreover, Hamer was a short and stocky poor black woman with a deep southern accent, which gave rise to ridicule in the minds of many in her audiences.{{Cite journal, last1=McMillen, first1=Neil R., last2=Mills, first2=Kay, date=June 1994, title=This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer., url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2081149, journal=The Journal of American History, volume=81, issue=1, pages=350, doi=10.2307/2081149, jstor=2081149, issn=0021-8723 Although she often gave speeches, she was often patronized by both black and white people because she was not formally educated. For instance, activists like

Roy Wilkins Roy Ottoway Wilkins (August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981) was a prominent activist in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins' most notable role was his leadership of the National Association for the ...

said Hamer was "ignorant", and President Lyndon B. Johnson looked down on her. When Hamer was being considered to speak as a delegate at the 1964 Democratic National Convention,

said, "The President will not allow that illiterate woman to speak from the floor of the convention." In 1964, Hamer received an honorary degree from

Tougaloo College Tougaloo College is a private historically black college in the Tougaloo area of Jackson, Mississippi. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was originally established in 1869 by New Yor ...

, much to the dismay of a group of black intellectuals who thought she was undeserving of such an honor because she was "unlettered". On the other hand, Hamer had supporters like

Ella Baker Ella Josephine Baker (December 13, 1903 – December 13, 1986) was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than five decades. In New York City and t ...

Bob Moses Robert Moses (1888–1981) was an American city planner. Robert Moses may also refer to: * Bob Moses (activist) (1935–2021), American educator and civil rights activist * Bob Moses, American football player in the 1962 Cotton Bowl Classic * Bob M ...

, Charles McLaurin, and

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...

who believed in her story and in her ability to speak. These supporters and others like them believed that despite Hamer's illiteracy, "People who have struggled to support themselves and large families, people who have survived in Georgia and Alabama and Mississippi, have learned some things we need to know." Hamer was known to evoke strong emotions in listeners to her speeches indicative of her "telling it like it is" oratorical style. Hamer's style of speaking and connecting to audiences can be traced back to her upbringing and the black Baptist Church to which her family belonged, which many see as the source of her ability to compel audiences with words. Woven into her speeches was a deep level of confidence, biblical knowledge, and even comedy in a way that many did not think possible for someone without a formal education or access to "institutionalized power". Hamer witnessed her mother be brave enough to walk around with a concealed pistol to protect her children from white land owners who were known to beat sharecroppers' children. Moreover, Hamer's mother instilled a sense of pride in being black when Hamer did not see it as a benefit as a child. In addition, Hamer's father was a Baptist preacher who often entertained the family with jokes at the end of the day. Although Hamer only made it to the sixth grade because she had to help the family work the fields, she excelled greatly at reading, spelling, and poetry, and even won spelling bees. Her family encouraged her to recite her poetry to the family and their guests. Hamer became a plantation timekeeper, a position that made her the point person who had to communicate with both the white land owners and the black sharecroppers, which helped her practice communicating to different kinds of people. After she got involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s, Hamer's oratorical skills quickly became apparent; leading activists were amazed at how she did not write her speeches but delivered them from memory. The Reverend Edwin King said of Hamer, "She was an extraordinarily good cook of down-home foods...she liked to mix, to make whatever she was feeding people at midnight after they would come home from jail or somewhere else, to fix the perfect spices or recipe for her guest,...after she became the orator, she began picking and choosing the spicy parts she’d put in her speeches. She was always doing the best she had with whatever she had. The food, or words, or voice or song—choosing among it what was needed to persuade or to comfort or to please." When traveling to different speaking engagements, Hamer not only made speeches, but also sang, often with the Freedom Singers. Charles Neblitt, one of its members, said of Hamer, "We'd let her sing all the songs we did that she knew. She put her whole self into her singing, adding a power to the group...When somebody puts their inner self into a song, it moves people. Her singing showed the kind of dedication that she had—the struggle and the pain, the frustration and the hope... Her life would be in that song." Hamer's "southern black vernacular", indicative of the denial of blacks', particularly black Southerners', access to standard American English captures the feelings and experiences of black Southerners despite of that lack of access. According to Davis Houck and Maegan Parker Brooks in ''The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer'', "the designation 'black' acknowledges aspects of Hamer’s racialized experience that influenced her speech. When describing Hamer’s discourse, moreover, we find the term 'vernacular' more precise than either 'dialect' or 'language' because the etymology of 'vernacular'—taken from the Latin vernaculus and verna—evokes a sense of being both 'native to a region' and 'subservient to something else.' In this respect, 'vernacular' echoes the particularity indicated by the regional distinction, as it simultaneously represents the relationship of power and domination that Hamer challenged through her words." One of Hamer's most famous speeches was at Williams Institutional Church in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

on December 20, 1964, along with

. In the speech, "Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired", Hamer chronicled the violence and injustices she experienced while trying to register to vote. While highlighting the various acts of brutality she experienced in the South, she was careful to also tie in the fact that blacks in the North and all over the country were suffering the same oppression. The audience was one-third white and gave Hamer a warm reception.

Freedom Farm Cooperative and later activism

{{main, Freedom Farm Cooperative In 1964, Hamer unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the

. She continued to work on other projects, including

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

-level

Head Start program Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. The program's s ...

s and

Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

Poor People's Campaign The Poor People's Campaign, or Poor People's March on Washington, was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCL ...

. With the help of Julius Lester and Mary Varela, she published her

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

in 1967.{{cite book, url=https://snccdigital.org/wp-content/themes/sncc/flipbooks/mev_hamer_updated/index.html?swipeboxvideo=1#page/1, title=To Praise Our Bridges, first=Fanny Lou, last=Hamer, year=1967, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226073702/https://snccdigital.org/wp-content/themes/sncc/flipbooks/mev_hamer_updated/index.html?swipeboxvideo=1#page/1, archive-date=February 26, 2018, df=mdy-all She said she was "tired of all this beating" and "there's so much hate. Only God has kept the Negro sane". Hamer sought

equality Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...

across all aspects of society. In Hamer's view, African-Americans were not technically free if they were not afforded the same opportunities as whites, including those in the

agricultural industry Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

Sharecropping Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

was the most common form of post-slavery activity and income in the South.{{sfn, Davis, 2013, p=94 The New Deal era expanded so that many blacks were physically and economically displaced due to the various projects appearing around the country. Hamer did not wish to have blacks be dependent on any group for any longer; so, she wanted to give them a voice through an agricultural movement.{{cite book, title=The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer, first=Chris Myers, last=Asch, year=2008, publisher=University of North Carolina Press, pages=198–220, jstor = 9780807878057 James Eastland, a white senator, was among the groups of people who sought to keep African-Americans disenfranchised and segregated from society.{{Cite web , url=http://spartacus-educational.com/USAeastland.htm , title=James Eastland , website=Spartacus Educational , access-date=February 13, 2018 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406124059/http://spartacus-educational.com/USAeastland.htm , archive-date=April 6, 2017 , df=mdy-all His influence on the overarching agricultural industry often suppressed minority groups to keep whites as the only power force in America. Hamer objected to this, and consequently pioneered the

(FFC) in 1969, an attempt to redistribute

economic power Economic power refers to the ability of countries, businesses or individuals to improve living standards. It increases their ability to make decisions on their own that benefit them. Scholars of international relations also refer to the economic p ...

across groups and to solidify an economic standing amongst African-Americans.{{Cite journal , title=Fannie Lou Hamer founds Freedom Farm Cooperative — SNCC Digital Gateway , url=https://snccdigital.org/events/fannie-lou-hamer-founds-freedom-farm-cooperative/ , journal=SNCC Digital Gateway , language=en-US , access-date=February 13, 2018 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213195415/https://snccdigital.org/events/fannie-lou-hamer-founds-freedom-farm-cooperative/ , archive-date=February 13, 2018 , df=mdy-all In the same vein as the Freedom Farm Collective, Hamer partnered with the

National Council of Negro Women The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African-American women, their families, and communities. Mary McLeod Bethune, the f ...

(NCNW) to establish an interracial and interregional support program called The Pig Project to provide protein for people who previously could not afford meat. Hamer made it her mission to make land more accessible to African-Americans. To do this, she started a small "pig bank" with a starting donation from the NCNW of five boars and fifty gilts.{{Cite journal , last=White , first=Monica M. , title="A pig and a garden": Fannie Lou Hamer and the Freedom Farms Cooperative , journal=Food and Foodways , year=2017 , volume=25 , pages=20–39 , doi=10.1080/07409710.2017.1270647, s2cid=157578821 Through the pig bank, a family could care for a pregnant female pig until it bore its

offspring In biology, offspring are the young creation of living organisms, produced either by a single organism or, in the case of sexual reproduction, two organisms. Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way. This ca ...

; subsequently, they would raise the piglets and use them for food and financial gain. Within five years, thousands of pigs were available for breeding. Hamer used the success of the bank to begin fundraising for the main farming corporation. She was able to convince the then-editor of the ''

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at ...

'',

James Fallows James Mackenzie Fallows (born August 2, 1949) is an American writer and journalist. He is a former national correspondent for ''The Atlantic.'' His work has also appeared in '' Slate'', ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''The New York Review of Boo ...

, to write an article that advocated for donations to the FFC. Eventually, the FFC had raised around $8,000 which allowed Hamer to purchase 40

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s of land previously owned by a black farmer who could no longer afford to occupy the land.{{Cite journal , last=M. , first=White, Monica , title="A pig and a garden": Fannie Lou Hamer and the Freedom Farms Cooperative , url=https://www.academia.edu/31683953 , journal=Food and Foodways , volume=25 , issue=1 , pages=1–20 , language=en , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626164418/http://www.academia.edu/31683953/_A_pig_and_a_garden_Fannie_Lou_Hamer_and_the_Freedom_Farms_Cooperative , archive-date=June 26, 2017 , df=mdy-all This land became the Freedom Farm. The farm had three main objectives. These were to establish an agricultural organization that could supplement the nutritional needs of America's most disenfranchised people; to provide acceptable

housing development A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

; and to create an entrepreneurial

business incubator Business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture ca ...

that would provide resources for new companies and re-training for those with limited education but

manual labor Manual labour (in Commonwealth English, manual labor in American English) or manual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machines and working animals. It is most literally work done with the hands (the word ''manual'' ...

experience.{{Cite journal, last1=White, first1=Monica M., title="A pig and a garden": Fannie Lou Hamer and the Freedom Farms Cooperative, journal=Food and Foodways, volume=25, pages=20–39, doi=10.1080/07409710.2017.1270647, date=January 2, 2017, s2cid=157578821 Over time, the FFC offered various other services such as financial counseling, a

scholarship fund A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

and a housing agency. The FFC aided in securing 35

Federal Housing Administration The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a United States government agency founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, created in part ...

(FHA) subsidized houses for struggling black families. Through her success, Hamer managed to acquire a new home, which served as inspiration for others to begin building themselves up. The FFC ultimately disbanded in 1975 due to lack of funding. In 1971, Hamer co-founded the

. She emphasized the power women could hold by acting as a voting majority in the country regardless of race or ethnicity, saying "A white mother is no different from a black mother. The only thing is they haven't had as many problems. But we cry the same tears."

Later life and death

While having

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

in 1961 to remove a tumor, 44-year-old Hamer was also given a

without consent by a white doctor; this was a frequent occurrence under Mississippi's

compulsory sterilization Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, is a government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually done throug ...

plan to reduce the number of poor blacks in the state.{{cite book , last1=Lee , first1=Chana Kai , title= For Freedom's Sake: the Life of Fannie Lou Hamer , date=2000 , publisher=

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic project ...

, isbn=978-0-252-06936-9 , page
80–81
{{cite web , url=http://www.biography.com/people/fannie-lou-hamer-205625 , title=Fannie Lou Hamer Biography , publisher=biography.com , access-date=March 3, 2015 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227054219/http://www.biography.com/people/fannie-lou-hamer-205625 , archive-date=February 27, 2015 , df=mdy-all {{sfn, Nelson, 2003, pp=68–69 Hamer is credited with coining the phrase " Mississippi appendectomy" as a

euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

for the involuntary or uninformed sterilization of black women, common in the South in the 1960s.{{sfn, Jones, Eubanks, 2014, p=259 She came out of an extended period in hospital for

nervous exhaustion Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North ...

in January 1972, and was hospitalized again in January 1974 for a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

. By June 1974, Hamer was said to be in extremely poor health. Two years later she was diagnosed with and had surgery for breast cancer. Hamer died of complications from

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

and

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

on March 14, 1977, aged 59, at

Taborian Hospital Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi opened in 1942 to great fanfare by the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor. Everyone on the staff, including doctors and nurses, were black. The facilities included two major o ...

. She was buried in her hometown of Ruleville, Mississippi. Her tombstone is engraved with one of her famous quotes, "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired."{{cite web, url=https://www.facingsouth.org/2016/10/sick-and-tired-being-sick-and-tired-making-connection-between-disenfranchisement-and-disease, website=Facing South: A Voice for a Changing South, title='Sick and tired of being sick and tired': making the connection between disenfranchisement and disease, last1=Barber, first1=Rebekah, last2=Barber, first2=Sharrelle, date=October 6, 2016, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114031829/https://www.facingsouth.org/2016/10/sick-and-tired-being-sick-and-tired-making-connection-between-disenfranchisement-and-disease, archive-date=November 14, 2017, df=mdy-all Her primary

memorial service A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

, held at a church, was completely full. An overflow service was held at

Ruleville Central High School Thomas E. Edwards, Sr. High School, formerly Ruleville Central High School (RCHS), is a public high school located in Ruleville, Mississippi, United States. It is a part of the Sunflower County Consolidated School District and had 381 students e ...

,{{sfn, Mills, 1997, p=226 with over 1,500 people in attendance.

, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, spoke at the RCHS service, saying "None of us would be where we are now had she not been there then".{{sfn, Nash, Taggart, 2007, p=85

Honors and awards

Hamer received many awards both in her lifetime and posthumously. She received a

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...

from Shaw University,{{cite encyclopedia, url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/hamer-fannie-lou-1917-1977, encyclopedia=Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, title=Hamer, Fannie Lou (1917–1977), date=2002, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201020246/http://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/hamer-fannie-lou-1917-1977, archive-date=February 1, 2018, df=mdy-all and honorary degrees from

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

in 1970"Honorary Degrees Issued"
{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023030115/http://www.lib.colum.edu/archives/honorarydegrees.php , date=October 23, 2010 , Library of Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois. and

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

in 1972.{{sfn, Hamer, 2011, p=145 She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. Hamer also received the Paul Robeson Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority,{{cite book, author=Wilson, Charles Reagan, title=The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 3: History, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ySqaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA298, access-date=January 7, 2018, date=February 1, 2014, publisher=University of North Carolina Press, isbn=978-1-4696-1655-1, page=298 the Mary Church Terrell Award from

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community. Delta ...

sorority, the National Sojourner Truth Meritorious Service Award.{{sfn, Badger, 2002, pp=79–80 She is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta. A remembrance for her life was given in the US House of Representatives on the 100th anniversary of her birth, October 6, 2017, by

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Congresswoman

Sheila Jackson Lee Sheila Jackson Lee (born January 12, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who is the U.S. representative for , having served since 1995. The district includes most of central Houston. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and serve ...

Tributes

In 1970,

held a "Fannie Lou Hamer Day". Six years later, the City of Ruleville itself celebrated a "Fannie Lou Hamer Day".{{sfn, Donovan, 2003, p=62 In 1977,

Gil Scott-Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...

and Brian Jackson wrote "95 South (All of the Places We've Been)", in Hamer's honor.

Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates ( ; born September 30, 1975) is an American author and journalist. He gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at ''The Atlantic'', where he wrote about cultural, social, and political issues, parti ...

described a 1994 live solo version of the song as "a haunting and somber ode".{{Cite news , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/opinion/sunday/10coates.html , title=Opinion , last=Coates , first=Ta-Nehisi , date=July 9, 2011 , work=The New York Times , access-date=February 13, 2018 , language=en-US , issn=0362-4331 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025214242/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/opinion/sunday/10coates.html , archive-date=October 25, 2017 , df=mdy-all In 1994, the Ruleville post office was named the Fannie Lou Hamer Post Office by an

act of Congress An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...

. Additionally, The Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy was founded in 1997 as a summer seminar and

K–12 K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grade ...

workshop program. In 2014 it was merged with the

Council of Federated Organizations The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was a coalition of the major Civil Rights Movement organizations operating in Mississippi. COFO was formed in 1961 to coordinate and unite voter registration and other civil rights activities in the sta ...

(COFO) Civil Rights Education Complex on the campus of

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

, to create the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO: A Human and Civil Rights Interdisciplinary Education Center. The Hamer Institute @ COFO provides a

research library A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of to ...

and outreach programs.{{cite web, title=Comprehensive Overview of the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO, url=http://www.jsums.edu/hamerinstitute/comprehensive-overview-of-the-fannie-lou-hamer-institute-cofo/, publisher=

, access-date=January 29, 2018, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129195546/http://www.jsums.edu/hamerinstitute/comprehensive-overview-of-the-fannie-lou-hamer-institute-cofo/, archive-date=January 29, 2018, df=mdy-all There is also a Fannie Lou Hamer Public Library in

. A 2012 collection of suites by trumpeter and composer

Wadada Leo Smith Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for ''Ten Free ...

, who grew up in segregated Mississippi, ''

Ten Freedom Summers ''Ten Freedom Summers'' is a four-disc box set by American trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith. It was released on May 5, 2012, by Cuneiform Records. Smith wrote its compositions intermittently over the course of 34 years, beginning in 1977, ...

'' includes ''"Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, 1964"'' as one of its 19 suites. A

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

about Hamer's life, ''Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement'', was written by

Carole Boston Weatherford Carole Boston Weatherford is an African-American author and critic, now living in North Carolina, United States. She is the winner of the 2022 Coretta Scott King Award for ''Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre.'' She writes children's literatur ...

; it won a

Coretta Scott King Award The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award rec ...

. Hamer is also one of 28 civil rights icons depicted on the

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

Freedom Wall.{{cite web, url=https://www.albrightknox.org/community/ak-public-art/freedom-wall, title=The Freedom Wall, publisher=

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...

, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007070236/https://www.albrightknox.org/community/ak-public-art/freedom-wall, archive-date=October 7, 2017, df=mdy-all And a quote from Hamer's speech at the 1964 Democratic National Convention is carved on one of the eleven granite columns at the Civil Rights Garden in Atlantic City, where the convention was held. Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School was formed in the Bronx, New York, with a focus on humanities and social justice. In 2017 the Fannie Lou Hamer Black Resource Center opened at the University of California at Berkeley. In 2018, the

Mississippi Democratic Party The Mississippi Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Mississippi. The party headquarters is located in Jackson, Mississippi. The party has members and County Executive Committees in all 82 counties of the st ...

's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner fundraiser was renamed the Hamer-Winter Dinner in honor of Hamer and former governor William Winter. The third annual Women's March, held in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

on January 19, 2019, was dedicated to Hamer's life and legacy. Several hundred people attended, representing many organizations. Several students from Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School attended despite a state of emergency declared by New Jersey Governor Murphy due to an impending snowstorm. The gardener and podcaster Colah B. Tawkin cites Hamer as inspiration.

Works

* Fannie Lou Hamer, Julius Lester, and Mary Varela, ''Praise Our Bridges: An Autobiography'', 1967 * Hamer,

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fou ...

, ''Songs My Mother Taught Me'' (album), 2015{{cite web, url=http://www.folkways.si.edu/sneak-preview-songs-my-mother-taught-me-by-fannie-lou-hamer, title=Sneak Preview: Songs My Mother Taught Me by Fannie Lou Hamer, website=Smithsonian Folkways website, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611042738/http://www.folkways.si.edu/sneak-preview-songs-my-mother-taught-me-by-fannie-lou-hamer, archive-date=June 11, 2015, df=mdy-all * Hamer (2011). ''The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It Is''. University Press of Mississippi. {{ISBN, 9781604738230. Cf.

Citations

{{Reflist, 30em

General references

{{Refbegin, 30em * {{cite book, last=Asch, first=Chris Myers, year=2008, title=The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer, location=New York and Chapel Hill, publisher=

The New Press The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by André Schiffrin University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the Southern United States. It is a member of the Ass ...

, isbn=978-1-59558-332-1 * {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AGXTQFENYQC&q=inauthor%3A%22Anthony%20J.%20Badger%20Ted%20Ownby%22&pg=PA69 , title=The Role of Ideas in the Civil Rights South , publisher=

University Press of Mississippi The University Press of Mississippi, founded in 1970, is a publisher that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi. Universities * Alcorn State University *Delta State University *Jackson State University *Mississippi State U ...

, last=Badger, first=Anthony , year=2002 , isbn=978-1-60473-690-8 * {{cite book, first1=David T., last1=Beito, first2=Linda Royster, last2=Beito, title=Black Maverick: T. R. M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power, publisher=Urbana: University of Illinois Press, year=2009, isbn=978-0-252-03420-6 * {{cite book, last=Burns, first=James MacGregor, author-link=James MacGregor Burns, title=The Crosswinds of Freedom: 1932–1988, chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGOJcfBSdMsC, access-date=January 7, 2018, date=April 10, 2012, publisher=Open Road Media, isbn=978-1-4532-4520-0, chapter=Chapter 8: Striding Toward Freedom * {{cite book, last=Chappell, first=David L., title=A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tsH0E4RCFNoC&pg=PA312, access-date=January 28, 2018, year=2004, publisher=

University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the Southern United States. It is a member of the Ass ...

, isbn=978-0-8078-2819-9 * {{cite book, last=Davis, first=David A, year=2013, title=Southern Modernists and Modernity, editor1-last=Monteith, editor1-first=Sharon, work=The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American South, publisher=University of Cambridge Press, isbn=978-1-107-03678-9 * {{cite book, last=Dittmer, first=John, author-link=John Dittmer, year=1993, title=Mississippi Movement, editor1=Dittmer, John, editor2=Wright, George C., editor3=Dulaney, W. Marvin, work=Essays on the American Civil Rights Movement, publisher=Texas A&M University Press, isbn=978-0-89096-540-5 * {{cite book, last=Donovan, first=Sandy, year=2003, title=Fannie Lou Hamer, publisher=Heinemann-Raintree Library, isbn=978-1-107-61085-9 * {{cite book, last1=Hamer, first1=Fannie Lou, last2=Lester, first2=Julius, last3=Varela, first3=Mary, year=1967, title=Praise Our Bridges: An Autobiography * {{cite book, last=Hamer, first=Fannie Lou, year=2011, title=The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell it Like it is, publisher=University Press of Mississippi, isbn=978-1-60473-823-0 * {{cite book , editor-first1=Alethia , editor-last1=Jones , editor-first2=Virginia , editor-last2=Eubanks , title=Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith , year=2014 , publisher=SUNY Press , isbn=978-1-4384-5115-2 * {{cite book, last=Lee, first=Chana Kai, year=1999, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gx2ZcDNUWAAC, title=For Freedom's Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer, location=Athens, publisher=University of Georgia Press, isbn=978-0-252-06936-9 * {{cite book, last=Marsh, first=Charles, year=1997, title=God's Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights, location=Princeton, publisher=Princeton University Press, isbn=978-0-691-02134-8, url-access=registration, url=https://archive.org/details/godslongsummer00char * {{cite book , last=Mills, first=Kay, editor-last=Barnwell, editor-first=Marion, title= A Place Called Mississippi: Collected Narratives , publisher=

, year=1997, isbn=978-1-61703-339-1 * {{cite book, last1=Nash, first1=Jere, first2=Andy, last2=Taggart, year=2007, title=Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976–2008, publisher=University Press of Mississippi, isbn=978-1-60473-357-0 * {{cite book, last=Nelson, first=Jennifer, year=2003, title=Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement, location=New York, publisher=NYU Press, isbn=978-0-8147-5827-4 * {{cite book, last=United States Commission on Civil Rights, year=1965, title=Voting in Mississippi, location=Washington, D.C., publisher=United States government, url=https://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/documents/cr12v94.pdf {{Refend

External links

{{Wikiquote * {{cite web , url = https://www.aroundrobin.com/this-little-light-of-mine/ , title = This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer , type = documentary film
“Fannie Lou Hamer Interview,”
1965-09-24,

Pacifica Radio Archives Pacifica may refer to: Art * Pacifica (statue), ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition Places * Pacifica, California, a city in the United States ** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier * 51 ...

American Archive of Public Broadcasting The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The AAPB is a national effort to digital ...

(GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 7, 2021.
SNCC Digital Gateway: Fannie Lou Hamer
Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and grassroots organizing from the inside-out.
National Women's Hall of Fame
an
National Women’s History Museum entries

Ron Schuler's Parlour Tricks, October 6, 2005.

owned by the University of Mississippi, Archives and Special Collections.
FBI file on Fannie Lou Hamer
* Jerry DeMuth
"Fannie Lou Hamer: Tired of Being Sick and Tired"
''The Nation'', April 2, 2009.
Transcripts of eight important speeches
made in the 1960s, including her testimony before the DNC credentialing committee. Published by The Fannie Lou Hamer Institute@COFO,

as an online educational supplement to
A Voice That Could Stir an Army: Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rhetoric of the Black Freedom Movement
' (2014), by Hamer scholar Maegan Parker Brooks. {{National Women's Hall of Fame {{Civil rights movement, state=expanded {{African American topics {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamer, Fannie Lou 1917 births 1977 deaths African-American activists 20th-century African-American women Activists for African-American civil rights African-American history of Mississippi African-American people in Mississippi politics African-American women in politics American anti–Vietnam War activists American democracy activists American people with disabilities American women activists Civil rights movement Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from cancer in Mississippi Delta Sigma Theta members Mississippi Democrats People from Montgomery County, Mississippi People from Ruleville, Mississippi Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Victims of police brutality in the United States Women civil rights activists