Oral history with Fannie Lou Hamer, native Mississippian and civil rights leader

              An Oral History with Fannie Lou Hamer
This oral history is provided through a cooperative project of USM Libraries and USM's Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage It is presented here for reference purposes only. Interviews in this collection are protected by copyright and PERMISSION TO PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
Fannie Lou Hamer was born on a plantation in the Mississippi hill country in 1917, the last child in a family of twenty children. Mrs. Hamer's parents, who were sharecroppers, moved to Sunflower County, Mississippi, when she was two years old. She recalled that " from two years old up until now I've been in the Delta." Due to the dire economic circumstances in which the family lived, Mrs. Hamer received only about six years of formal education. At the time of her youth the school term was only four months a year. Also, education at that time was considered secondary to work; nevertheless, " When I was a child, I loved to read. In fact, I learned to read real well when I was going to school. " Mrs. Hamer married and continued farming until the 1960s. In 1962, Mrs. Hamer learned about voting, saying, " That sounded interesting enough to me that I wanted to try it." When the civil rights movement began in Mississippi, Mrs. Hamer became first a participant and then a leader. She joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee [ SNCC] as a fieldworker in voter registration drives. As a result of this work for civil rights, Mrs. Hamer became a leading figure in the organization of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. As a member of the party, she attended the 1964 National Democratic Convention to challenge the seating of Mississippi's Regular Democratic Party. It was during a credentials committee hearing at this convention that she made her famous television appearance telling of the problems she encountered trying to vote in Mississippi. She recalled that " The first vote I cast, I cast . . . for myself, because I was running for Congress." She opposed the incumbent from her congressional district, Representative Jamie Whitten. Mrs. Hamer traveled widely on behalf of the civil rights movement. She made addresses in many major cities and colleges in the United States. Mrs. Hamer was also instrumental in forming the farming cooperative, Freedom Farms, in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Among her many endeavors, Mrs. Hamer campaigned unsuccessfully for a seat in the state senate in 1971. Mrs. Hamer passed away March 14,
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