Fannie Lou Hamer
By
John C Abercrombie
Fannie Lou Hamer was a well known person in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s. Born Fannie Lou Townsend on October 6, 1917, in Montgomery County, Mississippi. She was born into an exceptionally large family and was the youngest of 20 children born to Jim and Ella Townsend, sharecroppers.
It is important to understand sharecropping. Former slaves were freed without any possessions. They did not have land because they were unpaid workers. They had few personal possessions and work was scarce as there was little training for them. Keep in mind that there were skilled workers who were former slaves, but their work opportunities were severely limited.
Thus, we have almost an entire race of people with limited opportunities for self-improvement. One of the few opportunities was sharecropping where you and your entire family were dependent on a landowner to allow you to perform all of the backbreaking work on the farm in exchange for a share of the produce.
However, because during slavery, it was against the law to teach a person slave or free to read, write or learn math, most were at the mercy to unscrupulous landowners.
In the case of Fannie Lou, she was sent into the fields to work at the age of 6. School was limited both in the subjects and facilities and she had to drop out in the 3rd grade.
She was employed from 1944 to 1962 by WD Marlow. When she was 16, she contracted polio. Although she had only completed the 3rd grade, she was able to read and write. The owner then made her the time and record keeper for the plantation. She was also required to cook and clean his house.
Because of the unfairness of the deal between the owners and sharecroppers, a family of 22 could not pay off the debt they encountered while working for the landowner. It was slavery by another name.
Fannie Lou married Perry “Pap” Hamer in 1945 at the age of 27, he was a tractor driver on the Marlow farm. They had no children of their own and she sought help at the local hospital and a diagnosis of a tumor.
They performed surgery but never consulted her on a hysterectomy which left her unable to have children. Of course, she was outraged. Similar treatment was often performed on Black families. They did adopt 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys.
Fannie Lou Townsend was born in rural Montgomery County, Mississippi on October 6,1917. Fannie Lou was the youngest of 20 children born to Jim and Ella Townsend, poor sharecroppers, who found it hard to provide proper food and clothing for their children.
When she was six years old, she joined her family in the fields picking cotton and dropped out of school by the time she was in the third grade. She worked picking cotton for tenant farm owner W. D. Marlow from 1944 until 1962. When she was 16, she caught polio which made it hard for her to work in the fields. When Marlow found out that Fannie Lou could read and write, he made her the time and record keeper for the plantation in addition to cooking and cleaning his house.
In 1945, at the age of 27, Fannie Lou married Perry “Pap” Hamer who was a tractor driver on the Marlow farm. She described her husband as “a good man of few words;” “steady as a rock.” They had no children of their own. Fannie Lou went to the hospital to find out why she could not conceive and was told she had a tumor.
She was not told that they performed a hysterectomy on her that day but was later told by the doctor that it was done out of kindness. Fannie Lou was outraged. As a result, the Hamer’s adopted 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys who were all from extremely poor families.
Fannie Lou Hamer was 37 when she became aware of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She joined and worked as a field worker on the voter registration committee. This committee worked teaching Blacks to read and write so they could register to vote.
As a result, 17 people tried to register to vote and were turned back. When Marlow the owner of the farm where she and her husband worked, he threatened to expulse her from the plantation. She left that night and stayed with friends. The KKK learned about it and fired shots at her and her friends that night!
Fannie Lou Hamer strongly believed that /blacks could change their condition if they could vote for candidates willing to serve them. She studied with the Southern Free School and passed the voter registration on her 3rd attempt. She had vowed after the first time that she would take the test every 30 days until she passed the test.
No help came from the Federal Government to support voting, so the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed. The party registered 60,000 New Black voters across the state of Mississippi. They sent delegates to the 1964 Democratic Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey and challenged the seating of the regular Mississippi delegation.
They had attended a voter registration workshop in Charleston, South Carolina when the bus stopped at the Trailways bus terminal. Many being hungry attempted to get food and were arrested. Although Hamer did not go inside, she was also arrested. She was able to tell the world of the treatment with included 2 Black prisoners being furnished with blackjacks and being ordered to beat Hamer.
They had also been harassed on the trip home by police who stopped the bus for being “too yellow” and fining them $100.00. Many people may find this incredible, unbelievable and hard to swallow, but I personally recall the pastor of my church being stopped and fined by South Carolina State Patrol because the taillights on his brand new Cadillac were “too bright”. People who find this hard to believe have never been Black in the South. Police practice creative law enforcement. Creating stuff out of thin air, knowing they will never be challenged and. This was also the way injuries were perceived. The word of law enforcement was then as now taken over logic and reason.
The first prisoner beat her until he was exhausted, then the 2nd prisoner was ordered to beat her. She suffered severe injuries, but it was 3 days before the police would allow members of the group to take her to the hospital for treatment.
It was determined that she suffered permanent kidney damage, a blood clot to the artery of her left eye and a permanent limp when she walked.
She remained active in the fight for Civil and Voter rights. Running for Congress in Mississippi in 1964. She was unsuccessful but went on to speak to many groups including colleges and universities. She was also instrumental in helping bring Head start Program to her hometown of Ruleville, Mississippi and others throughout the state. She also served as a Democratic National committee Representative from 1968 – 1971 and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1972.
Hamer passed in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, March 14, 1977. Cause of death was heart problems, hypertension and cancer. Mound Bayou is in Bolivar County, Mississippi and was formed as an independent Black Community founded as a Black Community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isiah Montgomery.
Social Reformer. Dedicated and courageous civil rights activist. She was born in Sunflower County, Mississippi, being the youngest of twenty children and the granddaughter of a slave. After attending a meeting and hearing the Reverend James Bevel and James Forman speak, she became involved in the Civil Rights movement, particularly voter-registration. Her activities caused her family the loss of their home, and she was arrested, threatened, and beaten on more than one occasion. In 1963 she was beaten and jailed in Winona, Mississippi, when some members of her group got off the bus to use a cafe restroom. The local police told them to leave and one of the members wrote down the license number of the police car which resulted in the arrest and beating of her and four other people. While …
The inscription on the headstone of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer reads. “I Am Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired”
To see the full listing of posts, click on our Blog list
For Black History Month 2020, we posted daily. These posts focus on the reality of Black life in America after the Civil War culminating in the landmark Brown v Board of Education that changed so many of the earlier practices. To see the posts, click here
For Black History Month 2021, we focused on Black Medical Achievements, Inventors and Scientists.To see those posts, click here.
We also posted a 5 part mini-series on the 100th anniversary of one of the most horrific massacres in the history of America. Hundreds of Blacks were slaughtered and 10,000 left homeless in this largely unknown event. To see the posts, click here.
To comment or make suggestions on future posts, use Contact Us
We encourage you to share the site on social media.
Use our links to Amazon anytime you shop Amazon. We receive a small royalty without cost to you. Continue to scroll for fascinating Videos and Books to enhance your learning experience. Any of the links can be used to shop for what ever you are looking for. The important thing is to use one of our links as we receive the royalty for driving traffic to the site and not the individual products. We need and appreciate your support. Thank YOU!
Continue scrolling down for more amazing information, videos, books and value items.
**
Fannie Lou Hamer: Stand Up |
MPB Civil rights legend Fannie Lou Hamer is remembered by those who worked side by side with her in the struggle for voting rights. An African-American sharecropper from the Mississippi Delta, Hamer’s difficulty registering to vote in 1962 led to her career as an outspoken activist,
**
Shop Amazon – Create an Amazon Baby Registry
create a Baby Registry at Amazon.com.
* Everything you need
* Discounts
* Extended return period
* Add from any website
Shop Amazon – Create an Amazon Baby Registry
**
This Little Light of Mine:
The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer (Civil Rights and Struggle) ” WITH A FOREWORD BY MARION WRIGHT EDELMAN The award-winning biography of black civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. “”Riveting. Provides a history that helps us to understand the choices made by so many black men and women of Hamer’s generation, who somehow found the courage to join a movement in which they risked everything.”” ―New York Times Book Review “”One is forced to pause and consider that this black daughter of the Old South might have been braver than King and Malcolm.”
ABH – This Little Light of Mine Fannie Lou Hamer
**
Try Audible Plus
Audible Plus, a brand new all-you-can-listen membership that offers access to thousands of titles, including a vast array of audiobooks, podcasts and originals that span genres, lengths, and form
**
Fannie Lou Hamer Interview 1965
Colin Edwards interviews Fannie Lou Hamer on the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, voting rights, human rights, and politics during an interview he taped during her visit to Berkeley. Mrs. Hamer also relates a vicious beating she received in a Winona,
**
Computers and Accessories
The best place to search is with our Amazon affiliate link below
ABH – Computers and accessories
**
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer:
The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement A 2016 Caldecott Honor Book A 2016 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book A 2016 John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award Winner Stirring poems and stunning collage illustrations combine to celebrate the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, a champion of equal voting rights.
**
Home Audio
Get that great sound in YOUR home with the Amazon affiliate link
**
This Little Light of Mine:
The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer Michelle Martin interviews Robin Hamilton about her film “This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer” (2015), a documentary short that explores the life of an impoverished sharecropper who became a powerhouse in the battle for the right to vote in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement.
**
eBook Readers and Accessories
A great way to enlighten and entertain yourself. A personal favorite. Use the Amazon affiliate link below
ABH – eBook Readers and Accessories
**
Fannie Lou Hamer: America’s Freedom Fighting Woman
(Library of African American Biography) In 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer delivered a heart-wrenching testimony before the Democratic National Convention’s (DNC) Credentials Committee. In this speech, Hamer represented both the concerns of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) and the limits of American democracy when she proclaimed: “I question America. Is this 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 be threatened daily? Because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?”
ABH – America’s Freedom Fighting Woman
**
Wearable Technology
See and buy the very latest advances in technology using our Amazon affiliate link
**
Fannie Lou Hamer’s 1964 Testimony
**
Service Plans
You have paid dearly for your products, and they are often essential to your work and enjoyment. Protect them with the Amazon affiliate link below
**
The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer:
To Tell it Like It Is (Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies) The first collection of speeches from one of the movement’s valiant firebrands
ABH – The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer
**
Security and Surveillance
You know the need and the place to get the best is with our Amazon affiliate link
ABH – Security and Surveillance
**
Fannie Lou Hamer |
@ISSUE | MPB We look back and the life and legacy of civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer.
**
Office Electronics
Whether a stand alone office or the one you set up in your home, the place for those electronics is with our Amazon affiliate link
**
For Freedom’s Sake:
The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer (Women in American History)
The youngest of twenty children of sharecroppers in rural Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer witnessed throughout her childhood the white cruelty, political exclusion, and relentless economic exploitation that defined black existence in the Delta. In this intimate biography, Chana Kai Lee documents Hamer’s lifelong crusade to empower the poor through collective action, her rise to national prominence as a civil rights activist, and the personal costs of her ongoing struggle to win a political voice and economic self-sufficiency for blacks in the segregated South. Lee traces Hamer’s early work as a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in rural Mississippi, documenting the partial blindness she suffered after being arrested and beaten by local officials for leading a group of blacks to register for the vote. Hamer’s dramatic appearance at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, where she led a group from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in a bid to unseat the all-white Mississippi delegation, brought both Hamer and the virtual powerlessness of black Mississippians to the nation’s attention; but the convention also marked her first debilitating encounter with the middle class of the national civil rights movement.
**
Headphones
For security and to avoid disturbing others the answer is the right headphones and the place to get them is here with our Amazon affiliate link below
**
SNCC, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and Lyndon Johnson (LBJ)
**
Car and Vehicle Electronics
To enlighten and entertain yourself in your car the place to start is here with our Amazon affiliate link below
ABH – Car and Vehicle Electronics
**
A Voice That Could Stir an Army:
Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rhetoric of the Black Freedom Movement (Race, Rhetoric, and Media Series) A sharecropper, a warrior, and a truth-telling prophet, Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977) stands as a powerful symbol not only of the 1960s black freedom movement, but also of the enduring human struggle against oppression. A Voice That Could Stir an Army is a rhetorical biography that tells the story of Hamer’s life by focusing on how she employed symbols―images, words, and even material objects such as the ballot, food, and clothing―to construct persuasive public personae, to influence audiences, and to effect social change.
ABH – A Voice That Could Stir an Army
**
This post shows some of the horrors of being Black after the Civil War and what was faced for the act of trying to vote. The incidents with law enforcement seem incredible but they are 100% real. The violence we see today (when it is made available) is no different than that faced by Blacks for centuries. It is a shame, but it is part of the American History and will only feaster until it is brought to light and discussed by rational people willing to discuss and resolve the problem it really is.