Fannie Lou Hamer

Day Eight of #BlackHistoryMonth Black Theory: 

Fannie Lou Hamer 

"I’m never sure anymore when I leave home whether I’ll get back or not. Sometimes it seems like to tell the truth today is to run the risk of being killed. But if I fall, I’ll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I’m not backing off that and no one will have to cover the ground I walk as far as freedom is concerned." Fannie Lou Hamer, quoted by Danny Duncan Collum in Jim Wallis and Joyce Hollyday, Cloud of Witnesses

"Right now, sometimes, you know I work for the liberation of all people, because when I liberate myself, I'm liberating other people....In the past, I don't care how poor this white woman was, in the South she still felt like she was more than us. In the North, I don't care how poor or how rich this white woman has been, she still felt like she was more than us. But coming to the realization of the thing, her freedom is shackled in chains to mine, and she realizes for the first time that she is not free until I am free." It's In Your Hands "...you know, people tells you, don't talk politics, but the air you breathe is polluted air, it's political polluted air. The air you breathe is politics. So you have to be involved. You have to be involved in trying to elect people that's going to help do something about the liberation of all people." It's In Your Hands

"The only thing I really feel is necessary is that the Black people, not only in Mississippi, will have to actually upset this apple-cart. What I mean by that is, so many things are under the covers that will have to be swept out and shown to this whole world, not just to America. There is so much hypocrisy in America. This thing they say of "the land of the free and the home of the brave" is all on paper. It doesn't mean anything to us. The only way we can make this thing a reality in America is to do all we can to destroy this system and bring this thing out to the light that has been under the cover all these years." Oral History/Interview, Life in Mississippi "And I am determined to give my part not for what the Movement can do for me, but what I can do for the Movement to bring about a change...." Oral History/Interview, Life in Mississippi "But this is something we going to have to learn to do and quit saying that we are free in America when I know we are not free. You are not free in Harlem. The people are not free in Chicago, because I've been there, too. They are not free in Philadelphia, because I've been there, too." I'm Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

Links:

Writings - 

I'm Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired https://www.crmvet.org/docs/flh64.htm 

It's in Your Hands https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/yourhandshamer.html https://guides.lib.olemiss.edu/hamer/primary 

Interviews - Life in Mississippi https://www.crmvet.org/nars/flh1.htm 

Speeches - We're On Our Way https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/hamer-were-on-our-way-speech-text/ https://www.fannielouhamersamerica.com/fannie-lou-hamer-resource-center/biographical-materials 

Audio/Video -

Until I Am Free https://www.nyhistory.org/video/until-i-am-free-a-conversation-on-fannie-lou-hamers 

https://youtu.be/DFC1nc3IXBM?si=o5EHQkDF5_02_BUY https://youtu.be/IRCUUzpfV7k?si=S6GhhbyTPHkQdA-l