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Fannie Lou Hamer: A Social Activist

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Fannie Lou Hamer, one of the co-founders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, was a charismatic leader of the civil rights movement, executing determination every step of the way. Throughout her time, she went from picking cotton in the fields of the Mississippi Delta to speaking at the Democratic Convention. She was born on Saturday, October 6, 1917, coming from one of the most underdeveloped, rural communities in Montgomery County, Mississippi. Her parents, Jim and Lou Ella Townsend, were sharecroppers in Sunflower County, Mississippi which led Fannie Lou to begin working in the cotton fields of E.W. Brandon’s Ruleville plantation at the age of two. Sharecroppers worked on a distinct section of the plantation. Later on, her parents …show more content…

Fannie Lou and other Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party members went to the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and strived to become recognized as the official delegation. Before Fannie Lou Hamer lectured to the Credentials Committee, President Lyndon Johnson conducted a televised press conference, just to have Mrs. Hamer's speech not displayed nationally; fortunately, her speech was televised later. (Fig. 2.) Racial discrimination was described in her speech and four years later, Hamer became a member of Mississippi’s first interracial delegation. Her image of racial equality in political delegations became …show more content…

Hamer isn’t acknowledged profoundly in grade school textbooks, her legacy from 2000 to 2016 is cherished greatly. In Washington, D.C., the African American female a cappella group named Sweet Honey in the Rock, composed a song named “Fannie Lou Hamer.” In Ruleville, Mississippi, there’s a Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden devoted to Mrs. Hamer; a statue was later placed in that memorial in October 2012. Clearly, Ruleville, Mississippi appreciates Fannie Lou tremendously. From 1970-76, Ruleville celebrated “Fannie Lou Hamer Day.” The Chairman Dances included a song on their 2016 album, Time Without Measure, about Fannie Lou Hamer. In September 2017, there’s a portrait made of Mrs. Hamer in the Albright-Knox Art

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