Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer October 6, 1917 - March 14, 1977 In August of 1962, Fannie Lou Hamer and 17 others travelled to the county courthouse in Indianola, Mississippi, to register to vote. Only Hamer and one other person were allowed to fill out an application. As a result, she was fired from her job and driven from the planation she had called home for nearly two decades. Hamer chose to dedicate her life to the fight for civil rights and joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She spearheaded voter registration drives and relief efforts, but her involvement in the civil rights movement often left her in harm's way; during the course of her activist career, Hamer was threatened, arrested, beaten and shot at. In 1963, after she and other activists were arrested, she was beaten so badly in a Winona, Mississippi, jail that she suffered permanent kidney damage. In 1964, Hamer helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), established in opposition to her state's all-white delegation to that year's Democratic Convention and announced her bid for Congress. Although she lost the Democratic primary, she brought the civil rights struggle in Mississippi to the attention of the entire nation during a televised session at the convention. Along with her focus on voter registration, Hamer set up organizations to increase business opportunities for minorities and to provide childcare and other family services. She helped establish the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971. Learn more at: National Women's History Museum - Biography The Washington Post - Article & Videos .

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Emmett Till-‐ the Murder That Sparked the Civil Rights Movement Emmitt Till
Emmett Till- The Murder that sparked the Civil Rights Movement Emmitt Till Travel Exhibit on display in classroom. Day 1- Students will watch The PBS documentary on the Murder of Emmett Till And students will keep a journal of key events, locations, and people related to this historical event. Day 2-Guest Speaker Lent Rice- Current Director Bureau of Professional Standards of the Desoto Sheriff’s Department. Lived in Sumner Mississippi when the Emmett Till murder trial occurred and was on the FBI investigation team to reopen the Emmett Till Murder case in 2006. Students will watch videos of Wheeler Parker and Simeon Wright ( from the Delta Center Archives ) share what happened in the store , the night Emmett Till was kidnapped, and the murder trial. Students will have copies of The Court Reporter activities from the Delta Center and complete the student activities on the Emmett Till traveling exhibit. Day 3- Primary Source – students will be provided with a copy of the lyrics to the Bob Dylan song, the murder of Emmett Till, and follow along as they listen to Bob Dylan perform the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVKTx9YlKls DAY 3 – Students in small groups will be provided with articles from the Mississippi History Archives on Acts of Civil disobedience in Mississippi. and must write and perform their own Protest Song based on one of the historical events. (This lesson plan is available on the website the Mississippi Department of Archives and History) Day 4- Student groups will perform protest songs in class. Awards will be granted to best performance and best song.
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Hamer Biography
Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) “All my life I’ve been sick and tired. Now I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Fannie Lou Hamer was among the most significant participants in the struggle launched in the latter half of the twentieth century to achieve freedom and social justice for African Americans. Born October 6, 1917, in Montgomery County, Mississippi, she was the last of the twenty children of Lou Ella and James Townsend. They were sharecroppers, and since sharecropping generally bound workers to the land (a form of peonage), most sharecroppers were born poor, lived poor, and died poor. At age six Fannie Lou joined her parents in the cotton fields. By the time she was twelve, she was forced to drop out of school and work full time to help support her family. At age 27 she married another sharecropper named Perry “Pap” Hamer. In August 1962, Mrs. Hamer attended a meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in her hometown, Ruleville, Mississippi. This is where she made the fateful decision to attempt to register to vote. For this decision she was forced by her landlord to leave the plantation where she worked. In June the following year, she and several SNCC colleagues were brutally beaten in a Winona, Mississippi jail by law enforcement officers. This beating left her blind in her left eye and her kidneys permanently damaged. Mrs. Hamer’s historic presence in Atlantic City at the 1964 national convention of the Democratic Party brought national prominence with her electrifying testimony before the convention’s credentials committee.
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Abstract Valeika, Kathryn Roberts
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A Summary of the Contributions of Four Key African American Female Figures of the Civil Rights Movement
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Civil Rights TRANSCRIPT
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University of Saint Joseph Presents Civil Rights Film Series
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FANNIE LOU HAMER a Historical Time Line
FANNIE LOU HAMER A Historical Time Line October 6, 1917 Fannie Lou Townsend is born in Montgomery County, Mississippi. May 21, 1918 The U.S. House of Representatives passes the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. February 14, 1920 The League of Women Voters is founded, with the goal of giving women a stronger role in public affairs. May 2, 1927 In Buck v. Bell, by a vote of 8–1, the U.S. Supreme Court affirms the constitutionality of Virginia’s law allowing state-enforced sterilization. In 1962, while undergoing surgery to remove a small tumor, Hamer will receive a hysterectomy without her consent or prior knowledge. 1944 Fannie Lou Townsend marries Perry “Pap” Hamer. May 17, 1954 In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the U.S. Supreme Court declares school segregation unconstitutional. May 6, 1960 The Civil Rights Act of 1960 is signed into law by President Eisenhower; it includes measures against discriminatory voting practices. 1963 Hamer finally succeeds in registering to vote. From June 9–12, she is arrested and brutally beaten while in police custody. 1964 Hamer runs for Congress in the Mississippi state Democratic primary. On June 19, after an eighty-three-day filibuster, the U.S. Senate passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. On August 22, in a televised appearance, Hamer addresses the Democratic National Convention’s Credentials Committee about the problems she encountered in registration and her beating in jail. President Johnson calls a press conference at the same time as her speech to prevent her voice from being heard, but her speech is aired later by many television networks.
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Septima Clark and Fannie Lou Hamer By
Toni Rush Voter Registration Voter Registration The Role of Female Leadership within the Civil Rights Movement: Septima Clark and Fannie Lou Hamer By: Toni Rush Senior Seminar: HST 499 Professor John L. Rector Western Oregon University May 27th, 2010 Readers Professor Kimberly Jensen Professor Penelope Brownell Copyright © Toni Rush, 2010 Toni Rush Voter Registration The roles of women within the civil rights movement have historically been unappreciated. When grade school students, and those in high school, learn of the civil rights movement they are given names that are said to be the most important during the time period, names such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. These names do not usually include women such as Fannie Lou Hamer or Septima Clark. “Too often the African American women who participated in the movement remain invisible, elusive, or unappreciated.”1 While much of the emphasis in the civil rights movement is put on male leaders and ministers of the time, the reality is that only about 10% of the ministers within the South were actually active in the movement.2 Women played a significant role in the civil rights movement by being organizers, participants, and most importantly leaders who provided guidance and direction. In “Men Led, but Women Organized,” Charles Payne discusses the importance of women and their leadership roles within the movement. “Women canvassed more than men, showed up more often at mass meetings and demonstrations, and more frequently attempted to register to vote.”3 Women were involved in voter registration, led meetings in town halls, participated in church groups, and held political rallies.
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Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height, and Viola Liuzzo: Not
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Fannie Lou Hamer's Pastoral and Prophetic Styles of Leadership As
University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Undergraduate Theses and Professional Papers 2015 Tell It On the Mountain: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Pastoral and Prophetic Styles of Leadership as Acts of Public Prayer Breanna K. Barber University of Montana - Missoula, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/utpp Part of the Women's History Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Barber, Breanna K., "Tell It On the Mountain: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Pastoral and Prophetic Styles of Leadership as Acts of Public Prayer" (2015). Undergraduate Theses and Professional Papers. 29. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/utpp/29 This Professional Paper is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Theses and Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN: FANNIE LOU HAMER’S PASTORAL AND PROPHETIC STYLES OF LEADERSHIP AS ACTS OF PUBLIC PRAYER By BREANNA KAY BARBER Undergraduate Professional Paper presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in History University of Montana Missoula, MT May 2015 Approved by: Dr. Tobin Miller-Shearer, African-American Studies ABSTRACT Barber, Breanna, Bachelor of Arts, May 2015 History Tell It On the Mountain: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Pastoral and Prophetic Styles of Leadership as Acts of Public Prayer Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tobin Miller-Shearer Fannie Lou Hamer grew up in an impoverished sharecropping family in Ruleville, Mississippi.
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