“All of the adult education materials we created, regardless of topic, highlighted Black people in leadership roles making social and economic change. This focus was the result of our experience with the Selma Literacy Project and applied to subsequent work in Mississippi. One of our goals in 1963 was develop adult reading materials “out of the experiences, needs and aspirations” of Black adults in the Black Belt South, to help adults “turn inward and see his own strengths…

As we moved deeper into this work, we began to realize that the absence of Black images in mainstream print media, on television and in the movies, undermined the Movement’s work of empowering Black people to control their own destinies. So we started thinking about creating other types of materials in addition to the “how-to” booklets. The first idea that came up was suggesting to Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer that she do her autobiography. We would tape her life story and then print it up into a booklet. 

Mrs. Hamer’s life was a testimony to that kind of leadership in the Black community which draws strength and purpose from its heritage of resistance to oppression.” - Maria Varela, SNCC Staff Member, writer, photographer and organizer  

Taken from SNCC Digitial Gateway and Maria Varela’s bio page. Read To Praise Our Bridges online.