Fanny Lou Hamer 1917-1977. Let the Little Light Shine
Black women’s contributions to this country are immeasurable. In spite of insufferable oppression, Black women provided a backbone for and perpetual strength to the American middle class and the values that we share as Americans that hold our great experiment together.
In celebration of and in honor of the legion of Americans who keep the faith and patiently work within society to assure that our Democracy flourishes, we thankyou.
On this Black History Month, Indian Voices is celebrating Fannie Lou Hamer. Hamer was born on October 6, 1917, in Montgomery County, Mississippi, the 20th and last child of sharecroppers Lou Ella and James Townsend.
She grew up in poverty, and at age six, Hamer began picking cotton with the rest of her family. Hamer began civil rights activism in 1962, continuing until her health declined nine years later. She was known for her use of spiritual hymns and quotes and her resilience in leading the civil rights movement for black women in Mississippi.
On August 31, 1962, Fanny Lou led 17 volunteers to register to vote at the Indianola, Mississippi courthouse. In June 1963, after successfully completing a voter registration program in Charleston, South Carolina, Hamer and several other Black women were arrested for sitting in a “whites-only” bus station restaurant in Winona, Mississippi.
At the Winona jailhouse, she and several of the women were brutally beaten, leaving Hamer with lifelong injuries from a blood clot in her eye, kidney damage, and leg damage. This is where we came from, men and women just like Fanny Lou. The resilience and commitment of people like Hamer encourages us to “Let that Little Light Shine.”
Image: Wikimedia Commons
