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MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2017

By: Representative Sykes To: Rules

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 24

1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING THE LIFE AND 2 REMEMBERING THE LEGACY AND DISTINGUISHED SERVICE OF 3 CIVIL RIGHTS ICON FANNIE LOU HAMER, OF RULEVILLE, MISSISSIPPI, 4 UPON THE OCCASION OF HER 100TH BIRTHDAY. 5 WHEREAS, on October 6, 1917, the world was blessed with the 6 birth of an American voting rights activist, civil rights leader 7 and generous philanthropist in the form of Fannie Lou Hamer, and

8 now, 100 years later, upon the momentous occasion of her 100th 9 birthday, the State of Mississippi as well as the United States of 10 America still revel in the progress and promise that she bestowed 11 upon her fellow Mississippians and Americans; and 12 WHEREAS, born in Montgomery County, Mississippi, the youngest 13 of 20 children born to her parents Ella and James Lee Townsend, 14 Fannie Lou and her family moved to Sunflower County, Mississippi,

15 to work as sharecroppers on the plantation of W.D. Marlow, where 16 she began picking cotton at the age of six; and 17 WHEREAS, Fannie Lou attended school in a one-room schoolhouse 18 on the plantation from 1924-1930, but when the importance of her 19 ability to pick 200 to 300 pounds of cotton daily outweighed the H. C. R. No. 24 *HR43/R1257* ~ OFFICIAL ~ N1/2 17/HR43/R1257 PAGE 1 (ENK\EW) 20 importance of her education, she was forced to drop out and toil 21 in the fields all day, fortunately though, not before she had 22 learned how to read and write; and 23 WHEREAS, Fannie Lou's ability to read and write earned her 24 the spot of time and record keeper for the plantation in 1944, and 25 in 1945, she married Perry "Pap" Hamer, and the two of them worked

26 together on the plantation for the next 18 years, until Mrs. Hamer 27 was fired for registering to vote; and 28 WHEREAS, Mrs. Hamer began her trailblazing journey to help 29 achieve equality for African Americans at the polling place in the 30 1950s, when she attended several annual conferences of the 31 Regional Council of Negro Leadership in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, 32 where she became inspired from civil rights activists such as

33 Mahalia Jackson, and Representative Charles 34 Diggs of Michigan; and 35 WHEREAS, in 1961, Mrs. Hamer truly realized the importance of 36 her pleas for equality and change in the South and across the 37 country when she entered an operating room to have a tumor removed

38 but left without a tumor or any reproductive organs, as the white 39 doctor from Mississippi had given her a hysterectomy without her

40 consent as part of the state's plan to reduce the number of poor 41 African Americans located within its borders, a practice common in 42 the South during that time; and 43 WHEREAS, as a result of her "Mississippi appendectomy," the 44 phrase she coined for her uninformed sterilization, Mr. and Mrs.

H. C. R. No. 24 *HR43/R1257* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 17/HR43/R1257 PAGE 2 (ENK\EW) 45 Hamer were never able to have children of their own, but unwilling 46 to let racism prohibit them from being parents, they later raised 47 and eventually adopted two girls; and 48 WHEREAS, "sick and tired of being sick and tired," on August 49 23, 1962, after listening to an arousing sermon from Reverend 50 , an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating

51 Committee (SNCC) and associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 52 that encouraged African Americans to register to vote despite the 53 hardships waiting for them at the polls, Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer did 54 just that, she was the first volunteer to register to vote; and 55 WHEREAS, on August 31, the courageous Mrs. Hamer traveled on 56 a bus with other recipients of Reverend Bevel's sermon to 57 Indianola, Mississippi, to register to vote, and to help calm the

58 nerves of her fellow passengers and help them understand that what 59 they were doing was the right thing, she sang Christian hymns, 60 including "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and "This Little Light of 61 Mine"; and 62 WHEREAS, the day she registered to vote proved to be

63 bittersweet for Mrs. Hamer, because after that long, hot bus ride 64 to Indianola, she had finally registered to vote, the same right

65 all other Americans had, a step towards true equality, but upon 66 her return to Marlow's plantation, she was fired for doing the one 67 thing she had fought so hard to do; and 68 WHEREAS, her lack of employment ultimately benefitted the 69 in Mississippi, as the trials, tribulations

H. C. R. No. 24 *HR43/R1257* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 17/HR43/R1257 PAGE 3 (ENK\EW) 70 and mostly, perseverance, reached the ears of , the SNCC 71 organizer, who recruited her, "the lady who sings the hymns," to 72 perform activist work all over the South, with her base location 73 remaining in Mississippi; and 74 WHEREAS, during one of her more gruesome travel days, Mrs. 75 Hamer and other activists were returning to Mississippi from a

76 literacy workshop in Charleston, South Carolina, when they were 77 stopped, falsely charged and arrested in Winona, Mississippi, but 78 the ugliness did not end there as once they were in the jail, her 79 colleagues were beaten by police in the booking room and she was 80 taken to a cell where the police had ordered the two inmates 81 inside the cell to beat her with a blackjack, which they did until 82 she nearly died; and

83 WHEREAS, after being falsely detained for three days, Mrs. 84 Hamer was finally released from the cell that would haunt her for 85 years to come, and her recovery from the brutal beating lasted for 86 over a month, but despite her recurring physical and psychological 87 problems that resulted from that horrendous incident, she bravely

88 continued advocating in Mississippi, organizing voter registration 89 drives, including the "Freedom Ballot Campaign" in 1963 and the

90 "" initiative in 1964; and 91 WHEREAS, in the summer of 1964, Mrs. Hamer helped organize 92 the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, or "Freedom Democrats," 93 to challenge Mississippi's all-white, anti-civil rights delegation 94 to the Democratic National Convention, which failed to represent

H. C. R. No. 24 *HR43/R1257* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 17/HR43/R1257 PAGE 4 (ENK\EW) 95 all Mississippians, and through her efforts, and her many, many 96 inspirational speeches on the issue, in 1968, the Freedom 97 Democrats were finally seated at the convention and the party 98 adopted a clause that demanded equality of representation from 99 their states' delegation; and 100 WHEREAS, Mrs. Hamer campaigned unsuccessfully for United

101 States Congress in 1964 and 1965, but in 1972, she was elected as 102 a national party delegate, and throughout her life, she continued 103 to work at the grassroots-level for programs such as , 104 the Freedom Farm Cooperative in Sunflower County, Mississippi, and 105 Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign; and 106 WHEREAS, a day that will forever be wretched with grief and 107 sorrow in the minds and hearts of all Americans, on 14,

108 1977, at the age of 59, complications from hypertension and breast 109 cancer ended the life of our beloved Civil Rights leader, Mrs. 110 Fannie Lou Hamer, but her legacy of change and progress will 111 encourage young leaders in Mississippi and around the country for 112 generations to come; and

113 WHEREAS, it is the policy of this Legislature to pay homage 114 to such a selfless individual as Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, and it is

115 with solemn reverence and humility that we honor and cherish the 116 memory of this giant of an individual and patron citizen of 117 Mississippi on the auspicious occasion of her 100th birthday: 118 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF 119 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING

H. C. R. No. 24 *HR43/R1257* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 17/HR43/R1257 PAGE 5 (ENK\EW) 120 THEREIN, That we do hereby commemorate the life and remember the 121 legacy and distinguished service of Mississippi Civil Rights icon 122 Fannie Lou Hamer, of Ruleville, Mississippi, upon the occasion of 123 her 100th birthday. 124 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be 125 furnished to the family of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, forwarded to the

126 Mississippi Department of Archives and History and to the members 127 of the Capitol Press Corps.

H. C. R. No. 24 *HR43/R1257* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 17/HR43/R1257 ST: Fannie Lou Hamer; commend her life and PAGE 6 (ENK\EW) legacy upon the occasion of her 100th birthday.