Fannie Lou Hamer was a galvanizing force of the Civil Rights movement, using her voice to advance voting rights and representation for Black Americans throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Faced with eviction, arrests, and abuse at the hands of white doctors, policemen, and others, Hamer stayed true to her faith and her conviction in non-violent progress. She helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, ran for Congress, and was one of the first three Black women in American history to be seated on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Hamer dedicated herself fully as a grassroots organizer of the Civil Rights movement, inspiring countless activists and pushing progress forward. This is her story.
1940-1944: War and marriage
World War II produced many changes in the Delta. Cotton prices rose and wages increased temporarily for pickers and sharecroppers. After marrying a neighbor, Charlie Gray, in 1939, Fannie Lou divorced him in 1943. Within the year she married Perry “Pap” Hamer, a sharecropper and tractor driver on the W.D. Marlowe plantation near Ruleville. Pap ran a small “juke house” on the farm, featuring local Delta Blues music and his own distilled liquor. Image: Pap Hamer cooking cracklins photo. © Maria Valera Photography.
Images are from Walk with Me, except where otherwise noted and linked.
Recent Comments
There are currently no comments.