Fannie Lou Hamer
1917 – 1970
Fannie Lou Hamer represented the very core of the kind of courage, strength, deter was able to rise to the very
forefront of the civil rights movement. A native of the Mississippi delta; a dedicated wife and mother, she still found
time to dedicate herself to
which was literally the think-tank of many of her colleagues.
the civil rights movement, even though she lacked many of the academic credentials, Fannie was raised on a white
man’s plantation, but that plantation doctrine wasn’t raised in her. She knew that she had little, if anything to say or do
about from where she came, but had every right to determine where she was going. Fannie decided that she was not
going to allow herself to be held back because someone else elected to deprive her of certain life’s qualities such as,
formal education, material comforts, respect, and even God-given human rights. She had to struggle with this painful
paradoxical dilemma.
However, she pressed on and feared nothing, because her courage and strength far outweighed the evil that was
perpetrated upon her. She was arrested for trying to vote and whipped while in jail. She was forced off the white
man’s plantation, deprived of an opportunity to make a meager living and feed her family. This also forced her to
leave her husband. However, Fannie Lou fought on.
Fannie Lou Hamer, some said, didn’t have sense enough to fear white folks because she only had a sixth grade
education. If that was the case then what happened to Martin Luther King, Dr. Benjamin Mays, Thurgood Marshall,
Shirley Chisholm, Benjamin Hooks and Barbara Jordan to name a few. Education is one thing, but courage, willpower
and determination are another.
Fannie Lou Hamer, we are glad you passed this way. Rest in Peace, because you sure
didn’t have it on planet Earth – in the so-called land of the free and home of the brave.
Suggested Reading:
Fannie Lou Hamer by June Jordan Fannie Lou Hamer by David Rubel