| "I've Been Sick and I've Been Tired, now I'm Sick & Tired of Being Sick & Tired" Fannie Lou Hamer |
| Dr. Maya Angelou & Patricia M. Thompson December 2004 Delta State University Continuation of Hamer Celebration |
FANNIE LOU TOWNSEND HAMER
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ROAR INTERNATIONAL
ROAR INTERNATIONAL
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Mrs. Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer was born October 6,
1917 in the Mississippi Delta on a plantation where sharecropping was
the norm. She was tricked into picking cotton at the age of six in
exchange for a few items from the "Boss Man's" Store. By the time she
reached age ten, Fannie was picking as much cotton as some adults.
She earned the position of Timekeeper. To help calm her people down
after a lynching, shooting or KKK riot, Mrs. Hamer would sing like “ain't
no tomorrow”. Fannie Lou married Perry “Pap” Hamer.
In 1962, Mrs. Hamer decided she wanted to try to register to vote
after attending a SNCC voter registration meeting at William Chapel
Church in Ruleville, MS pastored by the late Rev. J. D. Story. It would
turn out to be just another way of asking to die.
After returning home, Mrs. Hamer was ordered to go and take her
name off the registrar’s book. If she refused to do so, she would
have to move. Refuse she did and move she did.
I didn't’t go register for you sir, I did it for myself”, replied Fannie Lou to
her boss. Mr. W. D. Marlowe. She was kicked off the plantation where
she had lived for the past eighteen years.
Sixteen shots were fired into The Tuckers home over the bed Mrs.
Hamer slept where she had fled for safety. “God had already told me
to move on, so I wasn’t there that night,” Fannie said.
Fannie Lou Hamer, June E. Johnson, James West, Euvester Simpson,
Annelle Ponder and others were jailed in Winona, Mississippi. Two
black prisoners were ordered to beat Mrs. Hamer. She was beaten so
badly she no longer had feelings in her legs.
Mrs. Hamer’s passion for her people and her interest and understanding
of how powerful the political process was in America led her and others
to create the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the
Credential Committee in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1964 to be seated
rather than the regular Democrats who they exclaimed were "illegally
elected" based on discriminatory practices against blacks statewide.
“We Will Not Accept The Compromise”, stated Mrs. Hamer. She had
consulted with Bob Moses and Mrs. Unita Blackwell and others prior.
Mr. Lawrence Guyot (Chairman MFDP) was in jail and couldn't make the
trip.
President Johnson interrupted the nationally televised convention in
order to keep Fannie Lou and her views from spreading like wildfire.
All of the major networks later ran her speech in its entirety and the
whole country was spellbound to hear such convictions coming from a
Southerner who felt she had nothing left to fear but fear itself.
"If the Freedom Democratic Party isn't seated today, I Question
America", Fannie told the Credentials Committee. "Is this America
where we have to sleep with our phones off the hooks because we be
threatened daily just cause we want to register to vote to become first
class citizens".
Mrs. Hamer’s efforts did not stop there. She challenged Black
Educators to “teach our children more about our history since school
books left it out”. She started a daycare center with the assistance of
the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) under the leadership
of Dr. Dorothy Irene Height (President). Mrs. Hamer also, organized
approximately, 640 acres of Freedom Farm land.
June E. Johnson gets very emotional when speaking about Mrs.
Hamer. I gave BLOOD with this lady, do you understand me?" I love
Mrs. Hamer and she discussed with me her "Unfinished Business"
while she lay on her death bed, continues Johnson. June was beaten
in jail with Fannie Lou for voter registration activities as a teenager.
Fannie Lou Hamer's labor ceased at 5:15 p.m. on March 14, 1977 in
Mound Bayou, Mississippi due to Breast Cancer and complications from
her jail house beating.
Fannie Lou Hamer worked with and sought assistance from Student Non
Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), National Council of Negro Women (NCNW),
National Association of Colored People (NAACP), The Delta Ministry and
numerous others. She was co- founder of the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party (MFDP). It was the Delta Ministry under the
leadership of Mr. Owen H. Brooks along with Mr. Charles McLaurin and
June E. Johnson that assured Mrs. Hamer a proper burial.
Mrs. Hamer was the recipient of many awards and honors. She
received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humanities from Tougaloo
College and Shaw University. She, also, received honorary degrees
from Columbia College and Howard University. Fannie was honored
with the National Sojourner Truth Meritorious Service Award, The Paul
Robeson Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and The Mary Terrell
Award from Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. Delta Sigma Theta made Mrs.
Hamer an Honorary member of their sorority.
Fannie Lou was inducted into the National Women Hall of Fame. On
February 18,1995, The United States Post Office in Ruleville, Mississippi
was named in Fannie Lou Hamer's honor thanks to Congressman
Bennie Thompson.
There is a Fannie Lou Hamer Day Care Center in Ruleville, Mississippi
that Mrs. Hamer started, a Fannie Lou Hamer Library located in
Jackson, MS, a Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School in Bronx, New
York, The Fannie Lou Hamer Political Institute founded by Dr. Leslie
McLemore at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi and The
Fannie lu Hmer "Women of Faith" Learning & Cultural Center. Mrs.
Hamer's speech from the 1964 Democratic Convention is inscribed on
column 10 in the Civil Rights Garden in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Several people do dramatic shows re-enacting "The Life & Times of
Fannie Lou Hamer" and many books and documentaries are written and
produced on her.
The Annual Fannie Lou Hamer Celebration is generally the first
Saturday in each October.
| FANNIE LOU HAMER sings to a young group as they prepare to canvass for voters registration |
| Mr. Timothy Price kept the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden cleaned and maintained practically free of charge from 1999-2002. |
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(c) copyrighted THE ROAR FOUNDATION, INC. April 2006
Lasted Updated March 2008
web site for educational/informational and networking purposes only! Use
of any copyrighted materials must be approved by its owner. ROAR claims
no responsibility for misuse of information obtained on this web site.
(c) copyrighted THE ROAR FOUNDATION, INC. April 2006
Lasted Updated March 2008
| PHOTO COURTESY OF BARBARA SHAW |
| Mrs. Euvester Simpson at Mississippi Civil Rights Veterans Conference in Jackson, MS March 2006. Ms. Simpson was Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer's cell-mate in Winona, MS when they were arrested, jailed and beaten for trying to register to vote. |
| Ms. June E. Johnson & Dr. Leslie McLemore June was beaten in jail with Mrs. Hamer as a teenager. Dr. McLemore founded the Fannie Lou Hamer Political Institute |
Testimony of Fannie Lou Hamer in Atlantic City, New Jersey 1964
Mr. Chairman, and the Credentials Committee, my name is Mrs. Fannie
Lou Hamer, and I live at 626 East Lafayette Street, Ruleville, Mississippi,
Sunflower County, the home of Senator James O. Eastland, and Senator
Stennis.
It was the 31st of August in 1962 that 18 of us traveled 26 miles to the
country courthouse in Indianola to try to register to try to become first-
class citizens.
We was met in Indianola by Mississippi men, Highway Patrolmen and they
only allowed two of us in to take the literacy test at the time. After we had
taken this test and started back to Ruleville, we was held up by the City
Police and the State Highway Patrolmen and carried back to Indianola
where the bus driver was charged that day with driving a bus the wrong
color.
After we paid the fine among us, we continued on to Ruleville, and
Reverend Jeff Sunny carried me four miles in the rural area where I had
worked as a timekeeper and sharecropper for 18 years. I was met there
by my children, who told me that the plantation owner was angry because
I had gone down to try to register.
After they told me, my husband came, and said that the plantation owner
was raising cain because I had tired to register, and before he quit
talking the plantation owner came, and said, “Fannie Lou, do you know--
did Pap tell you what I said?”
And I said, “yes, sir.”
He said, “I mean that,” he said, “If you don’t go down and withdraw your
registration, you will have to leave,” said, “Then if you go down and
withdraw,” he said, “You will--you might have to go because we are not
ready for that in Mississippi.”
And I addressed him and told him and said, “I didn’t try to register for
you. I tried to register for myself.”
I had to leave that same night.
On the 10th of September 1962, 16 bullets was fired into the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Robert Tucker for me. That same night two girls were shot in
Ruleville, Mississippi. Also Mr. Joe McDonald’s house was shot in.
And in June the 9th, 1963, I had attended a voter registration workshop,
was returning back to Mississippi. Ten of us was traveling by the
Continental Trailway bus. When we got to Winona, Mississippi, which is in
Montgomery County, four of the people got off to use the washroom, and
two of the people—to use the restaurant—two of the people wanted to
use the washroom.
The four people that had gone in to use the restaurant was ordered out.
During this time I was on the bus. But when I looked through the window
and saw they had rushed out I got off of the bus to see what had
happened, and one of the ladies said, “It was a State Highway Patrolman
and a Chief of Police ordered us out.”
I got back on the bus and one of the persons had used the washroom
got back on the bus, too.
As soon as I was seated on the bus, I saw when they began to get the
four people in a highway patrolman’s car, I stepped off of the bus to see
what was happening and somebody screamed from the car that the four
workers was in and said, “Get that one there,” and when I went to get in
the car, when the man told me I was under arrest, he kicked me.
I was carried to the county jail, and put in the booking room. They left
some of the people in the booking room and began to place us in cells. I
was placed in a cell with a young woman called Miss Ivesta Simpson.
After I was placed in the cell I began to hear the sound of kicks and
horrible screams, and I could hear somebody say, “Can you say, yes, sir,
nigger? Can you say yes, sir?”
And they would say other horrible names.
She would say, “Yes, I can say yes, sir.”
“So say it.”
She says, “I don’t know you well enough.”
They beat her, I don’t know how long, and after a while she began to
pray, and asked God to have mercy on those people.
And it wasn’t too long before three white men came to my cell. One of
these men was a State Highway Patrolman and he asked me where I was
from, and I told him Ruleville, he said, “We are going to check this.”
And they left my cell and it wasn’t too long before they came back. He
said, “You are from Ruleville all right,” and he used a curse work, and he
said, “We are going to make you wish you was dead.”
I was carried out of that cell into another cell where they had two Negro
prisoners. The State Highway Patrolmen ordered the first Negro to take
the blackjack.
The first Negro prisoner ordered me, by orders from the State
Highway Patrolman for me, to lay down on a bunk bed on my face,
and I laid on my face.
The first Negro began to beat, and I was beat by the first Negro
until he was exhausted, and I was holding my hands behind me at
that time on my left side because I suffered from polio when I was
six years old.
After the first Negro had beat until he was exhausted the State
Highway Patrolman ordered the second Negro to take the
blackjack.
The second Negro began to beat and I began to work my feet,
and the State Highway Patrolman ordered the first Negro who had
beat me to sit upon my feet to keep me from working my feet. I
began to scream and one white man got up and began to beat me
my head and told me to hush.
One white man—since my dress had worked up high, walked over
and pulled my dress down and he pulled my dress back, back up.
I was in jail when Medgar Evers was murdered.
All of this is on account of us wanting to register, to become first-
class citizens, and if the freedom Democratic Party is not seated
now, I question America, is this America, the land of the free and
the home of the brave where we have to sleep with our
telephones off of the hooks because our lives be threatened
daily because we want to live as decent human beings, in
America?
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, and the Credentials Committee, my name is Mrs. Fannie
Lou Hamer, and I live at 626 East Lafayette Street, Ruleville, Mississippi,
Sunflower County, the home of Senator James O. Eastland, and Senator
Stennis.
It was the 31st of August in 1962 that 18 of us traveled 26 miles to the
country courthouse in Indianola to try to register to try to become first-
class citizens.
We was met in Indianola by Mississippi men, Highway Patrolmen and they
only allowed two of us in to take the literacy test at the time. After we had
taken this test and started back to Ruleville, we was held up by the City
Police and the State Highway Patrolmen and carried back to Indianola
where the bus driver was charged that day with driving a bus the wrong
color.
After we paid the fine among us, we continued on to Ruleville, and
Reverend Jeff Sunny carried me four miles in the rural area where I had
worked as a timekeeper and sharecropper for 18 years. I was met there
by my children, who told me that the plantation owner was angry because
I had gone down to try to register.
After they told me, my husband came, and said that the plantation owner
was raising cain because I had tired to register, and before he quit
talking the plantation owner came, and said, “Fannie Lou, do you know--
did Pap tell you what I said?”
And I said, “yes, sir.”
He said, “I mean that,” he said, “If you don’t go down and withdraw your
registration, you will have to leave,” said, “Then if you go down and
withdraw,” he said, “You will--you might have to go because we are not
ready for that in Mississippi.”
And I addressed him and told him and said, “I didn’t try to register for
you. I tried to register for myself.”
I had to leave that same night.
On the 10th of September 1962, 16 bullets was fired into the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Robert Tucker for me. That same night two girls were shot in
Ruleville, Mississippi. Also Mr. Joe McDonald’s house was shot in.
And in June the 9th, 1963, I had attended a voter registration workshop,
was returning back to Mississippi. Ten of us was traveling by the
Continental Trailway bus. When we got to Winona, Mississippi, which is in
Montgomery County, four of the people got off to use the washroom, and
two of the people—to use the restaurant—two of the people wanted to
use the washroom.
The four people that had gone in to use the restaurant was ordered out.
During this time I was on the bus. But when I looked through the window
and saw they had rushed out I got off of the bus to see what had
happened, and one of the ladies said, “It was a State Highway Patrolman
and a Chief of Police ordered us out.”
I got back on the bus and one of the persons had used the washroom
got back on the bus, too.
As soon as I was seated on the bus, I saw when they began to get the
four people in a highway patrolman’s car, I stepped off of the bus to see
what was happening and somebody screamed from the car that the four
workers was in and said, “Get that one there,” and when I went to get in
the car, when the man told me I was under arrest, he kicked me.
I was carried to the county jail, and put in the booking room. They left
some of the people in the booking room and began to place us in cells. I
was placed in a cell with a young woman called Miss Ivesta Simpson.
After I was placed in the cell I began to hear the sound of kicks and
horrible screams, and I could hear somebody say, “Can you say, yes, sir,
nigger? Can you say yes, sir?”
And they would say other horrible names.
She would say, “Yes, I can say yes, sir.”
“So say it.”
She says, “I don’t know you well enough.”
They beat her, I don’t know how long, and after a while she began to
pray, and asked God to have mercy on those people.
And it wasn’t too long before three white men came to my cell. One of
these men was a State Highway Patrolman and he asked me where I was
from, and I told him Ruleville, he said, “We are going to check this.”
And they left my cell and it wasn’t too long before they came back. He
said, “You are from Ruleville all right,” and he used a curse work, and he
said, “We are going to make you wish you was dead.”
I was carried out of that cell into another cell where they had two Negro
prisoners. The State Highway Patrolmen ordered the first Negro to take
the blackjack.
The first Negro prisoner ordered me, by orders from the State
Highway Patrolman for me, to lay down on a bunk bed on my face,
and I laid on my face.
The first Negro began to beat, and I was beat by the first Negro
until he was exhausted, and I was holding my hands behind me at
that time on my left side because I suffered from polio when I was
six years old.
After the first Negro had beat until he was exhausted the State
Highway Patrolman ordered the second Negro to take the
blackjack.
The second Negro began to beat and I began to work my feet,
and the State Highway Patrolman ordered the first Negro who had
beat me to sit upon my feet to keep me from working my feet. I
began to scream and one white man got up and began to beat me
my head and told me to hush.
One white man—since my dress had worked up high, walked over
and pulled my dress down and he pulled my dress back, back up.
I was in jail when Medgar Evers was murdered.
All of this is on account of us wanting to register, to become first-
class citizens, and if the freedom Democratic Party is not seated
now, I question America, is this America, the land of the free and
the home of the brave where we have to sleep with our
telephones off of the hooks because our lives be threatened
daily because we want to live as decent human beings, in
America?
Thank you.
| Patricia M. Thompson Looks on as Mrs. Victoria Gray Adams, Mississippi Supreme Court Justice James E. Graves, Mississippi State Reprensentative Sara Thomas, Ruleville's Alderwoman Hattie Jordan, Lawrence Guyot, Charles McLaurin, Owen Brooks, the Rev. Edwin King, Minister Barbara Devine, the Rev. Dr. Cecil Gray, Dr. Ron V. Myers, Sr. Spike Moss, Mr. Jimmy Lacy and others break grounds for a gazebo and other additions to The Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden October 2004 under the leadership of Alderwoman Hattie Jordan. |
Mrs. Hamer in Holmes County, MS
Photo by Sue (Lorenzi) Sojourner
Photo by Sue (Lorenzi) Sojourner
| A weary and worn Fannie Lou Hamer found strength for an interview even as her health began to fail her |
| Angelou led tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer at The National Democratic Convention in Boston, MA 2004 |
| FANNIE LOU HAMER POST OFFICE RULEVILLE, MS |
| More information on Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer |
| Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden Ruleville, MS |
Photo by Holly A. Evans
| FANNIE LOU HAMER MEMORIAL GARDEN Ruleville. MS |
Perry "Pap" Hamer married Fannie LouTownsend in 1942
| Photo by Nell Draper Winston |
In 1967 Hamer published To
Praise Our Bridges: An
Autobiography. As a member
of the Democratic National
Committee for Mississippi
(1968–71) and the Policy
Council of the National
Women's Political Caucus
(1971–77), she actively
opposed the Vietnam War and
worked to improve economic
conditions in Mississippi.
Praise Our Bridges: An
Autobiography. As a member
of the Democratic National
Committee for Mississippi
(1968–71) and the Policy
Council of the National
Women's Political Caucus
(1971–77), she actively
opposed the Vietnam War and
worked to improve economic
conditions in Mississippi.
| Click here to view short video |
| 9th ANNUAL FANNIE LOU HAMER CELEBRATION OCTOBER 4, 2008 |
| To hear testimony in Hamer's own voice, click here, then click "listen to the speech" |
| Fannie Lou Hamer Quotes |
| PHOTO COURTESY OF BARBARA SHAW |
