Political Change, Modern U.S. History: Medgar Evers / Fannie Lou Hamer

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Similar content addressed in SOLs: VS.1a-i; USII.1a-h; USII7.d, USII8a

Born a sharecropper, a farmer who gives up a share of their crop as rent, in Mississippi River Delta region of Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer became an organizer for Civil Rights groups in Southern Mississippi. She went door-to-door throughout the region to gain support for her cause, often using gospel songs, a popular form of music, and language that everyone could understand to get her message across. Her talent as a speaker and her dedication to the cause of equal rights helped Ms. Hamer develop into one the most important regional leaders of the Civil Rights movement.

  • Fannie Lou Hamer at the Democratic National Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey, August 1964Her success in organizing rural Mississippi eventually led her to become a leader in SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), one of the nation’s largest Civil Rights groups in the early 1960s. Despite constant threats on her life, being fired from her job, and nearly dying from being beaten by white police officers in prison, she remained dedicated to the Civil Rights cause throughout her life.
  • Mahalia Jackson at the May 17, 1957, Prayer Pilgrimage of Freedom in Washington, D.C.Music was an important part of the Civil Rights movement. Although many African-Americans in the South had not been given an opportunity to receive a fair and equal education, all could listen and sing to popular songs which they turned into songs of protest to unify people behind their cause. Gospel music, particularly songs about hope, was the most common form of these protest songs. Seen here is gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.
  • Listen to recording Fannie Lou Hamer’s favorite protest song, one which she often sang herself during protests, was “This Little Light of Mine,” a song of hope and defiance.
  • Aaron Henry, chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegation, speaks before the Credentials Committee at the Democratic National Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey, August 1964Hamer was the Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a political group formed to challenge the state of Mississippi’s white, anti-Civil Rights Democratic Party at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Hamer became a public figure during the Convention, outwardly castigating the Democratic Party for its failure to offer equal representation to all party factions. Her actions proved successful, eventually garnering her Party two seats in the Convention. However, the MFDP’s success in the convention solidified the changing political demographics of the South. Many of the anti-Civil Rights Democrats whom Hamer had confronted over the issue in 1964 left the national party to join the Republican Party.
  • "Leesburg, Georgia. Arrested for demonstrating in Americus, teenage girls. . .," no. 10During the Civil Rights movement, people who protested peacefully were often arrested for their actions. In this instance, a group of teenage girls were put in prison for holding demonstrations for equal rights. “Children’s Marches” were used in Southern protests and became important symbols for the national Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.