FANNIE LOU HAMER: Grass-Roots Organizer
Fannie Lou Hamer was born on October 6, 1917 in Montgomery County, Mississippi. Her parents were sharecroppers and famed land on a plantation. Fannie was the last child of twenty children, six girls and fourteen boys. She contracted polio as a child and because there no vaccine for polio at the time, she was left with a limp. Although she was short and had a limp, her mother always told her to "stand up no matter what the odds."
At the age of six, she began picking cotton to help the family. She said, "By the time I was thirteen I was picking two and three hundred pounds." Fannie only attended school after the harvest, which wasn't for very long, she said, "My parents tried so hard to do what they could to keep us in school, but school [for black children] didn't last but four months out of the year and most of the time we didn't have clothes to wear. I dropped out of school and cut cornstalks to help the family." She dropped out of school after the sixth grade. Even though she did not obtain a formal education, she became a dynamic speaker and civil rights worker.
In 1944, Fannie married Perry "Pap" Hamer. They moved to the Marlow plantation in Ruleville, Mississippi and became sharecroppers. Fannie Hamer worked as a timekeeper on the plantation. Hamer was always concerned about the bad working conditions in the fields. She wanted to make changes, but at the time had no avenue for doing so.
During the 1960's Fannie became interested in the civil rights movement. She became involved in voter registration when members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) came to Mississippi. She remarked, "One day in early August, I heard that some young people had come to town teaching people how to register to vote. I have always wanted to do something to help myself and my race, but I did not know how to go about it. So, I went to one of the meetings in Ruleville. That night, I was showed how to fill out a form for registration. The next day, August 31, 1962, I went to Indianola, Mississippi to fill out a form at the registrar's office. I took the test."
During this time, African-Americans were deterred from voting in the South. When Hamer and others from her city went to register to vote, they were asked to interpret the state's constitution. So, naturally, being unable to do so, Hamer flunked and was not allowed to register to vote. On the return trip home, the bus in which she and the others were riding was stopped for being "the wrong color." She and the others were jailed and later released. This sort of harassment was a typical experience for blacks in the South. When she returned home, Marlow, her landowner gave her an ultimatum, either stop trying to vote or leave his property. Hamer chose to leave the property and her family. Her husband remained on the property to continue working. Hamer stayed with various friends and neighbors. At each house in which she was staying, night riders caused violence.
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