Fannie Lou Hamer was born on this day in 1917!
When we say we stand on the shoulders of GIANTS! This is who we are talking about.
Fannie was a freedom fighter, philanthropist, organizer, and example of speaking truth to power. Growing up in Mississippi as a Black woman ain’t for the faint of heart. It requires resilience to just exist.
In Uprooting Qahr! Power, Privilege, and Paperwork, we examine the oppressive systems that required resilience to navigate and the freedom fighters who co-created pathways towards collective liberation.
Pathways we are still working to protect and extend
In Her Words
Dozens of Hamer’s speeches have been buried in archival collections and in the basements of movement veterans. Thankfully, Maegan Parker Brooks and Davis W. Houck selected 21 of Hamer’s most important speeches and testimonies for their book, The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It is. Below are a few examples compiled by Maegan Parker Brooks and Davis W. Houck.
1963
I Don’t Mind My Light Shining
Greenwood, MS
Freedom Vote Rally
1964
Testimony Before the Credentials Committee
Atlantic City, NJ
Democratic National Convention
We’re On Our Way
Indianola, MS
Mass Meeting
I’m Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired
Harlem, NY
Speech Delivered with Malcolm X at The Williams Institutional CME Church
1965
Interview with Fannie Lou Hamer by Colin Edwards
Berkely, CA
1967
The Only Thing We Can Do Is to Work Together
Mississippi
Chapter Meeting of the National Council of Negro Women in MS
1968
What Have We To Hail?
Kentucky
Speech on Behalf of the Alabama Delegation
Chicago, IL
Democratic National Convention
1969
To Tell It Like It Is
Lexington, MS
Holmes County, MS Freedom Democratic Party Municipal Elections Rally
Testimony
Jackson, MS
Democratic Reform Committee
To Make Democracy a Reality
Berkeley, CA
Vietnam War Moratorium Rally
1970
America Is a Sick Place, and Man Is on the Critical List
Chicago, IL
Speech at Loop College
1971
Until I Am Free, You Are Not Free Either
Madison, WI
Speech at the University of Wisconsin
Is It Too Late?
Tougaloo, MS
Speech at Tougaloo College
Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free
Washington, D.C.
Speech at the Founding of the National Women’s Political Caucus
If the Name of the Game Is Survive, Survive
Ruleville, MS
1972
Seconding Speech for the Nomination of Frances Farenthold
Miami Beach, FL
Democratic National Convention
Interview with Fannie Lou Hamer by Dr. Neil McMillen
Ruleville, MS (1972/1973) Part One; Part Two; Part Three Oral History Program, University of Southern Mississippi
1976
We Haven’t Arrived Yet
Madison, WI
Presentation and Responses to Questions at the University of Wisconsin
