Hamer, Fannie Lou, 1917-1977
Variant names
Americans
English
Biographical notes:
Fannie Lou Hamer was born Fannie Lou Townsend on October 6, 1917, in Montgomery County, Mississippi. She was a voting and women's rights activist, community organizer, and a leader in the civil rights movement. She was the co-founder and vice-chair of the Freedom Democratic Party, which she represented at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Hamer also organized Mississippi's Freedom Summer along with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She was also a co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus, an organization created to recruit, train, and support women of all races who wish to seek election to government office.
Hamer began civil rights activism in 1962, continuing until her health declined nine years later. She was known for her use of spiritual hymnals and quotes and her resilience in leading the civil rights movement for black women in Mississippi. She was extorted, threatened, harassed, shot at, and assaulted by white supremacists and police while trying to register for and exercise her right to vote. She later helped and encouraged thousands of African-Americans in Mississippi to become registered voters, and helped hundreds of disenfranchised people in her area through her work in programs like the Freedom Farm Cooperative. She unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1964 and the Mississippi State Senate in 1971. In 1970 she led legal action against the government of Sunflower County, Mississippi, for continued illegal segregation.
Hamer died on March 14, 1977, aged 59, in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Her memorial service was widely attended and her eulogy was delivered by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young. She was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.
Links to collections
Fannie Lou Hamer, 1917-1977 :papers,. 1966-1978, n.d
Harvard University
Phyllis J. Hudson Collection
Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries,
Anne Romaine Papers, 1935-1995 (bulk 1960-1995)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection.
Floyd B. McKissick Papers, 1940s-1980s
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection
Madison Measure for Measure. Records, 1965-1979.
Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
She's Nobody's Baby collection, 1980-1987
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Free Southern Theater (1963-1980). Records. 1963-1978, 1985-1986.
Tulane University, Amistad Research Center
Guide to the Daily Worker and Daily World Photographs Collection, 1920-2001
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Lerner, Gerda, 1920-2013. Papers, 1950-1995
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Irene Paull papers., 1934-1981.
Minnesota Historical Society
Sweet, Charles. Sweet family papers, 1970-1977.
Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
Sengstacke, Robert A. Martin Luther King, Jr. : photographs, 1964-1968.
Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Records of the Democratic National Committee. 1960 - 1968. Organizational, Research, and Campaign Records
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
Jordan, June, 1936-2002. Papers, 1936-2002 (inclusive), 1954-2002 (bulk).
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Bernice V. Robinson papers, 1957-1985 (bulk 1960-1980).
Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture
[Interviews of five Mississippi women] [videorecording].
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Fannie Lou Hamer Papers, 1964-1967.
creatorOf
Related names in SNAC
correspondedWith
Ashmore, Robert T. (Robert Thomas), 1904-1989
associatedWith
Blackwell, Unita, 1933-
associatedWith
Jordan, June, 1936-2002.
correspondedWith
Ladner, Heber, 1902-1989
associatedWith
Lerner, Gerda, 1920-2013
associatedWith
McKissick, Floyd B. (Floyd Bixler), 1922-
associatedWith
Paull, Irene, 1908-1981.
associatedWith
Phyllis J. Hudson
associatedWith
Robinson, Bernice, 1914-1994.
associatedWith
Romaine, Anne.
associatedWith
Sengstacke, Robert A.
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associatedWith
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)
associatedWith
Amistad Research Center.
honoredBy
Columbia college Chicago, Ill.
associatedWith
Communist Party of the United States of America.
associatedWith
Free Southern Theater (1963-1980)
honoredBy
Howard University
associatedWith
Madison Measure for Measure.
founderOf
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
associatedWith
National Committee for Free Elections in Sunflower.
founderOf
National Women's Political Caucus (U.S.)
alumnusOrAlumnaOf
Shaw University
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Collection Locations
no collection locations known
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Information
Subjects:
- African Americans
- African Americans
- African American women
- Civil rights
- Civil rights workers
- Poor People's Campaign
- African Americans
Occupations:
not available for this record
Places:
- Mound Bayou, MS, US
Variant Names
Townsend, Fannie Lou, 1917-1977