WOMEN IN HISTORY - FANNIE LOU HAMER

African-American sharecropper turned civil rights worker and founder of the MS Freedom Democratic Party

DATE OF BIRTH

October 6, 1917

PLACE OF BIRTH

Montgomery County, Mississippi

DATE OF DEATH

March 14, 1977

PLACE OF DEATH

Ruleville, Mississippi

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Fannie Lou was the twentieth child to parents Jim and Lou Ella Townsend. As sharecroppers working for area farms, the Townsends saved money to buy a farm and mules of their own. However, a malicious white neighbor poisoned their animals to prevent the family from attaining financial freedom. While working on a cotton plantation, Fannie met and married Parry Hamer, a tractor driver on the same plantation.

EDUCATION

Fannie worked as a record keeper after the family she worked for discovered she was literate.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Fannie Lou Hamer is well known a fighter in the American Civil Rights Movement. Despite the prevailing literacy laws, she fought for the right to vote in 1962 as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Fannie believed that Black Americans needed to be educated on various aspects of economics and politics in order to be more successful. She not only championed for rights to vote but also fought against the pervasive poverty in the Black community. She promoted economic assistance for Black Americans. One of her projects was Freedom Farms Corporation; she founded this land coop with the intention of having poor farmers eventually purchase a stake in this land. Fannie is well-respected for founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. The Democratic Party of Mississippi did not allow Blacks. With the founding of this party, they challenged the all-white makeup of political candidates at the 1964 Democratic Convention. She herself ran for Congress but failed because the prevailing party of the day did not permit her name to be placed on the ballot. However, she received more votes outside of the ballot than did her opponent.

During the last decade of her life, Fannie was recognized by various national organizations and colleges for her groundbreaking work on behalf of Black Americans.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Harness, Cheryl. Rabble Rousers: 20 Women Who Made a Difference. New York: N.Y.: Dutton Children's Books, 2003. [j920.720973 Harness Lakewood Public Library]
  • Jordan, June. Fannie Lou Hamer. New York: Crowell,1972.
  • [jBIO Hamer Lakewood Public Library] Lamb, Brian. Booknotes: Life Stories: Notable Biographers on the People Who Shaped America. New York: Times Books,1999. [920.02 Booknotes Lakewood Public Library]

WEBSITES

CITATION

This page may be cited as:
Women in History. Fannie Lou Hamer biography. Last Updated: 2/9/2013. Women In History Ohio.
<http://www.womeninhistoryohio.com/fannie-lou-hamer.html>