Taborian Hospital, Mound Bayou, MS

Fannie Lou Hamer died on March 14, 1977 in the Knights of Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. This one-of-a-kind all-black Delta community, founded by former slaves, was once home to the renowned surgeon and civil rights activist, Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Mason (TRM) Howard. While Howard fled the state for Chicago in the 1950s fearing for his life following the murder and trial of Emmett Till, countless Delta blacks were nursed back to health by Howard and his staff; many children were also brought into the world at his able hands. Unfortunately Hamer never recovered from complications from cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, the beating in Winona, and a life of terrific deprivation and hardship. She died at 59 with a mountain of debt and in relative anonymity.