Kicking off this week’s Civil Rights themed Black History Month spotlight is Fannie Lou Hamer.
Fannie Lou Hamer
- Born on October 6, 1917, Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil rights activist who devoted herself to fighting for African American voting rights in the 1960s.
- Hamer traveled all around the Deep South and the rest of the country rallying and organizing economically disadvantaged African Americans on a grass-roots level, risking her life.
- Known as an engaging and fiery speaker, Hamer famously declared that she was “Sick and tired of being sick and tired” of the racism and discrimination she and other African Americans faced daily.
- Hamer was a courageous and unrelenting activist who fought bitterly against the numerous discriminatory voting practices in the Deep South, like literacy tests and intimidation.
- In 1964 and 1965, Hamer ran for Congress and eventually became a Mississippi delegate at the Democratic National Convention in 1968.
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free” ~ Fannie Lou Hamer
The Decadent Diva 