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 Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer was born on October 6, 1917 in
Montgomery County, Mississippi to Jim and Ella Townsend. She was the
youngest of twenty children. Her parents moved to Sunflower county,
Mississippi in 1919 when she was two years old.
For eighteen years of her adult life, Mrs. Hamer worked as a
sharecropper and timekeeper on a plantation four miles east of
Ruleville, Mississippi. Sharecropping, or "Halfling," as it
is sometimes called, is a system of farming whereby workers are
allowed to live on a plantation in return for working the land. When
the crop is harvested, they split the profits in half with the
plantation owner. Sometimes the owner pays for the seed and
fertilizer, but usually the sharecropper pays those expenses out of
his half. It's a hard way to make a living and sharecroppers
generally are born poor, live poor, and die poor.
In 1962, she was fired in retaliation for attempting to vote.
Shortly thereafter she left the plantation and went to live with
friends because of repeated treats on her life. During this period,
the house in which she was staying was riddled with sixteen rifle
blasts, but she miraculously escaped. Within a year, she had become
the most dynamic woman to emerge from the Civil Rights Movement.
From 1963 to 1967 she served as Field Secretary for the Student
Non-Violent Coordination Committee (SNCC). Because of this she
targeted by the Ku Klux Klan for destruction.
In 1963, Mrs. Hamer and other civil rights workers arrived in
Winona, MS by bus. They were ordered off the bus and taken to
Montgomery County Jail. The story continues "...Then three white
men came into my room. One was a state highway policeman (he had the
marking on his sleeve)... They said they were going to make me wish
I was dead. They made me lay down on my face and they ordered two
Negro prisoners to beat me with a blackjack. That was unbearable.
The first prisoner beat me until he was exhausted, then the second
Negro began to beat me. I had polio when I was about six years old.
I was limp. I was holding my hands behind me to protect my weak
side. I began to work my feet. My dress pulled up and I tried to
smooth it down. One of the policemen walked over and raised my dress
as high as he could. They beat me until my body was hard, 'til I
couldn't bend my fingers or get up when they told me to. That's how
I got this blood clot in my eye - the sight's nearly gone now. My
kidney was injured from the blows they gave me on the back."
Mrs. Hamer was left in the cell, bleeding and battered, listening to
the screams of Ann Powder, a fellow civil rights worker, who was
also undergoing a severe beating in another cell. She overheard
white policemen talking about throwing their bodies into the Big
Black River where they would never be found. Happily she was
rescued, however the beating left her in great pain until the day
she died.
In 1964, presidential elections were being held. In an effort to
focus greater national attention on voting discrimination, civil
rights groups created the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
(MFDP). This new party sent a delegation, which included Fannie Lou
Hamer, to Atlantic City, where the Democratic Party was holding its
presidential convention. Its purpose was to challenge the all-white
Mississippi delegation on the grounds that it didn't fairly
represent all the people of Mississippi, since most black people
hadn't been allowed to vote.
Fannie Lou Hamer spoke to the Credentials Committee of the
convention about the injustices that allowed an all-white delegation
to be seated from the state of Mississippi. Although her live
testimony was pre-empted by a presidential press conference, the
national networks aired her testimony, in its entirety, later in the
evening. Now all of America heard of the struggle in Mississippi's
delta.
In 1964, Mrs. Hamer attempted to run for Congress in the Second
Mississippi Congressional District that represented twenty-four
counties. She was not even allowed on ballot. The MFDP then
conceived the idea of the "Freedom Ballot". All candidates' names,
black and white, were placed on this ballot. When the votes were
counted, Mrs. Hamer had received 33,099 votes, and her opponent,
Congressman Jamie Whitten, had only forty-nine.
Mrs. Hamer was also a part of The Mississippi Freedom Democratic
Party (MFDP), of which she was a founder and vice-chairperson, was
organized in Jackson, Mississippi on April 26, 1964. This was
necessary because the regular Democratic Party of Mississippi
refused to permit Blacks to participate in it. Mrs. Hamer and the
MFDP first came to national prominence in August of 1964 when she
led a delegation of Mississippi citizens to the Democratic National
Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Here, they challenged the
seats of the regular Mississippi delegation.
Hamer publisher her autobiography, To Praise Our Bridges, in 1967.
She was one of the founders of the National Women's Political Caucus
and organized on the local level for low-income housing, school
desegregation, and daycare.
Mrs. Hamer spoke to the Credentials Committee of the convention
about the injustices that allowed an all-white delegation to be
seated from the state of Mississippi. Although her live testimony
was pre-empted by a presidential press conference, the national
networks aired her testimony, in its entirety, later in the evening.
Now all of America heard of the struggle in Mississippi's delta.
A compromise was reached that gave voting and speaking rights to two
delegates from the MFDP and seated the others as honored guests. The
result of the challenge was an unprecedented pledge from the
National Democratic Party not to seat delegations that excluded
Afro-Americans at the next national convention in 1968. A year
later, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.
Mrs. Hamer was the recipient of many awards and honors. Notable
among these were: an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from
Tougaloo College; and Honorary Doctorate of Humanities form Shaw
University; Honorary degreases from Columbia college and Howard
University; the National Sojourner Truth Meritorious Service Award;
The Mary Church Terrell Award from Delta Signa Theta, Inc.; and the
Paul Roberson Award form Alpha Kappa Alpha Fraternity.
Mrs. Hamer's involvement in the fight for freedom and human dignity
took her across the United States and abroad. She was the leader in
the fight to unseat the Mississippi Regular Democratic Party at the
national convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1964. Mrs. Hamer
was instrumental in the organization of the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party, and offshoot of the MFDP, which gained national
attention and successfully unseated the regular Democratic Party in
1968.
Mrs. Hamer believed in God and the true greatness of the African
American people. One of her favorite songs was, "This Lil Light Of
Mine, I'm Gonna Let It Shine." She indeed let her light shine so
that all men would realize that God created us all for greatness,
and we deserve to achieve it without hindering.
Mrs. Hamer died March 14, 1977.
[Table of Contents]
Because she had no children, we should build her a child of grass, earth and stones; because she had no children, no children of her own.
Black hands forced to beat her, she cried out in pains, her persecutors were cruel.
“Lord, please have mercy, how much can I endure.” All the pain she suffered, my god, was it for real!
She hid from the white men so she would not be killed.
Walking by her grave there is no doubt, if you listen closely
her voice cries out.
"For those of you who knew me, for the rights, for the wrongs; for those of you who benefited, for those of you who
were not strong; for those of you who had children, who will spread your name far and wide, you who will be remembered through your child. How will I be remembered?"
Because she had no children, her pleas were in vain. Still she prayed to sweet Jesus,
"Lord, am I to blame? I made my contributions. I suffered for the cause.
I tried to do my best. You are the Santa Clause. I put my trust in you Lord, I charged everyone to do the same. It's time that we wipe the slate clean, hold our head up high and not be ashamed."
Because she had no children, we should build her one, of grass, earth and stones; because she had no children, no children of her own.
© January 1, 1982
Amias [Table
of Contents]
Mississippi was a place where it was hard to live, the land where the KKK and poor blacks dwelled. The blacks had no rights according to the whites, and that’s the way it was. There was no joy, there was no peace, and there was no love.
Then freedom started to rock the nation for civil and human rights. Many blacks died during that terrible fight. In the town where I lived the black men were slow to act, but a good woman stood up, and she was proud and black.
When the time came for voting she was kicked and beaten bad. But that woman kept on marching although she was sad. She marched to Indianola and to Jackson, my friends. No one could stop her, not even the Ku Klux Klan.
They locked her up in jail, they threw away the key. But the community demanded that she be set free. Fannie Lou Hamer had a dream, no one would turn aside. Like women of old she fought with pride.
“Hear me!” She cried, “We humans have rights. We will not surrender. We will continue to fight!” She let her light so shine that all the world would see, God made us all equal, we were meant to be free.
They called her Fannie Lou Hamer. She was a big strong woman. She filled the children’s stomach. She stood for human rights; this woman was out of sight!
Clothing, food, and money came from all over the United States. She spread love where there was hate. She showed courage in the face of danger; she emulated peace instead of anger.
She took the money, my friends, invested it in land. She built homes for the old and the young. Now Fannie Lou Hamer is gone to God in haven above, may her spirit rest in peace, farewell, go with our and love.
© December 31, 1979 Amias [Table
of Contents]
They gathered around
like she was an alien
her voice boomed
into the microphone
hypnotized by her mannerism
the crowd froze in place
as she began to speak
eyes wide with her thoughts
hands waving in union
her robust body heaving
with the strength of her words
echoing to the silence of the crowd
transcending boundaries
skin color had placed her in
the multi-race crowd
rose in union
as her speech ended
in a resounding voice
"I'm sick and tired
of being sick and tired"
her name was
FANNIE LOU HAMER
born in the Mississippi Delta
beaten because of her beliefs
shunned by the people she helped
forgiving all she persevered
to change a nation
that had long forgotten
the meaning of compassion
for all its citizens
© October 6, 1999 Amias [Table
of Contents]
Fears stifled, she bravely stood up and
Answered the call to arms. Appalled at
Negroes’ humanity being forever
Nailed to the cross like Jesus, by the
Ignorance of a nation refusing to dispense
Equal justice for its citizens of color, their
Lives embittered in poverty, a gift for
Overcoming the cruelty of faces hidden
Under white sheets, feeding the world
Hatred for those with brown skin. Still, she
Answered the call to arms. Her body
Mangled until it turned hard and blue by
Evil men forcing black hands to beat her, yet she
Rose up against the tyranny of America’s injustice
© January 17, 2004 Amias
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Welcome
to the tribute page of the late
Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer. How
can one go by introducing a
woman who needs no introduction?
This tribute is in honor of a
woman who helped children and
women like me, across the
nation, but especially in
Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama,
and Louisiana to have a better
quality of life.