Fannie Lou Hamer’s
Enduring Legacy
Nearly 50 years after her death, Fannie Lou Hamer’s powerful voice continues to be heard. Those who knew her still talk about her and the unmistakable affect she had, not only in their lives, but on the lives of so many others. But she has also garnered the attention of a new generation of students and activists who find her words relevant, persuasive and inspirational. This page explores the many ways in which they demonstrate their appreciation for Fannie Lou Hamer - whom one broadcaster said “is perhaps the most under-appreciated, unknown, under-valued and overlooked activist in the history of this nation.” For more attributes celebrating Fannie Lou Hamer’s legacy, see our Honors Page.
If you have a project you’d like to share on this page featuring Fannie Lou Hamer, please tell us about it at flhamerica@gmail.com.
Student Projects.
Twelve-year- old Christina Jai is a 7th-grader at Milton L. Olive Middle School in Wyandanch, New York. Under the direction of her Social Studies teacher, Ms. Bridget Hepburn, Christina, and her classmates were tasked with creating a poster board project for Black History Month - February 2023. Of the 13 individuals named, Christina chose Fannie Lou Hamer.
“Christina chose to honor Fannie Lou Hamer because out of all the elements presented for the assignments, she knew the least about her,” Christina’s mother, Latesha Walker said.
Upon preliminary research, Christina learned Hamer’s legacy is underrepresented and scholars in the Wyandanch community were unfamiliar with her story as well.
“I was most impressed with Fannie Lou’s bravery and resilience to keep fighting for voting justice for Black women when people did not respect her intellect,” Christina said. “I recognized how important Fannie Lou’s fight for equity, freedom and a voice in the segregated south was, and is relevant to people of color today because we still battle voter suppression issues.”
With her mother’s help, Christina reached out to the Fannie Lou Hamer’s America Educational Resource team for more information, and in the end shared with them Christina’s final research project.
“I don’t have to say it, but I will: Fannie Lou Hamer was a force! And she’s an inspiration to women and girls, all around the world, but particularly those of color,” Walker said. “We are honored to research her life and legacy and carry on the good news. We will use the materials available and share with our school and community.”
The school orchestrated a Black history and academic achievement celebration where selected boards were on display.
Photos: Above - Christina’s project. Bottom left: Christina with her Social Studies teacher Ms. Bridget Hepburn. And right, Christina’s school photo. Photos and information courtesy of Latesha Walker.
Photos by Cristi Smith-Jones and photographer Kayleigh Stefanko.
In 2017, five-year-old Lola Lorelle Jones, a kindergartner from Kent, Washington, recreated a series of famous photos celebrating influential women for Black History Month including Fannie Lou Hamer. With help from her mom, Cristi Smith-Jones, Lola dressed as her favorite Black women and her mom shared an image each day on Twitter throughout the month of February. They used clothes from the thrift shop and items from their home to recreate the vintage looks.
The duo were inspired to embark on the powerful photo project when Lola came home from school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and told her mom and dad that she was learning about the civil rights leader and they wanted to educate her further about civil rights, slavery and Black history.
Smith-Jones told the Atlanta Black Star: 'We talked about how far we’ve come and that there is still farther to go. So, to inspire her, and get her engaged in learning more about Black history, I decided to use her love of playing dress up to teach her. I decided that we’d honor a woman each day for Black History Month and she’d get to transform into her and I could teach her about their legacies in the process.”
In 2017, Janine Castro, a sophomore at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School in Bronx, NY participated in a competition to have a local street renamed for a civil rights icon. Castro admitted she had never heard of Fannie Lou Hamer until she enrolled as a student at the high school.
Her teacher, Ms. Christine Caldero, asked the students to write a persuasive essay on changing the street name in front of their school from West Farms Road to Fannie Lou Hamer Street. “I started to research as many things about Fannie Lou as possible, submitted my paper, and won the competition,” Janine said.
The unveiling took place in 2019. Read Janine’s full story on our Schools and Street Page.
Pictured below: Janine Castro holding the sign (left) with local politicians, Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School Principal Jeff Palladino (right in black sweater) and her fellow students.
“Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired.”
At a time when social unrest is plaguing our country, contemporary activists across the nation are looking to history now more than ever for more empowering models of social change. And given her convictions, who she represented and served, and how she persuaded communities, Fannie Lou Hamer is a fitting and inspirational model for a new generation of activists and students.
At the age of 59, Fannie Lou Hamer died on March 14, 1977 of hypertension, breast cancer and the effects of a vicious jailhouse beating years earlier. But not before helping thousands to register and vote and leaving a legacy as one of the movement’s most pre-eminent orators.
Now, more than four decades after her death, proponents of justice are still channeling her spirit in protests by uttering her most famous mantra, that they too are “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” A fitting declaration for a nation still reeling from the pangs of racial disparity and longing for equality.
Comic Strips.
While the origin of these cartoons found on social media are unknown, there is no question they are influenced by Fannie Lou Hamer’s most famous quote, that she is “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Animation.
In 2019, our senior researcher and curriculum designer, Dr. Maegan Parker Brooks, partnered with BrainPOP to create an animated movie for our K-12 educational curriculum, Find Your Voice.
BrainPOP is an online educational solution that makes rigorous learning experiences accessible and engaging for all students. Since its founding in 1999 by Avraham Kadar, M.D., BrainPOP has been continuously innovating to prepare students to become the leaders of tomorrow. From the beginning, the BrainPOP approach engaged kids' curiosity through short animated movies that make complicated ideas simple and clear, helping them experience the sudden burst of understanding that Dr. Kadar called a "brain pop."
So, with the help of Jon Feldman, the BrainPOP team and of course, “Tim” and “Moby” (right), the eight-minute film, Fannie Lou Hamer was created.
Below are scenes from the movie.
Games.
Created in association with the Library of Congress in 2003, these fact-filled Great African Americans Knowledge Cards include historical photos of 48 individuals on the front and a brief biography and fascinating facts on the back. These cards are a great source of condensed information all in a deck the size of a pack of playing cards!
The courage and accomplishments of the men and women represented in this collection range from educators, writers, athletes, musical giants, activists and many other fields. These include Fannie Lou Hamer and many others who have changed the world in ways even they could not have predicted.
This collective set features more women than men with many not as widely recognized for their accomplishments such as Edith Spurlock Sampson, educators Daisy Bates and Rita Dove, editor Jessie Redmon Fauset and founder of the National Negro Opera Company Mary Caldwell Dawson.
HerStory is a family-friendly, light strategy board game that aims to recognize and honor women from history. The premise is that you're an acclaimed author, writing a book to tell the stories of remarkable women of history. Players take turns doing research, drafting chapters, and completing them for points and possibly for research symbols or special powers. The game ends when a player has written eight chapters, and the player with the highest scoring book wins.
Completed chapters grant abilities that make you a better writer, and allow you to score even more points as the game progresses.
The game comes with 120 oversized, linen-finish cards with beautiful illustrations of the featured historical figures on the front, and stories about their lives on the back. Fannie Lou Hamer is one of the women featured, and others include aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman, activist Eleanor Roosevelt, sculpter Edmonia Lewis and scientist Marie Curie.
Designers chose women for the game by creating “a huge list of great and notable women” and inviting customers and experts to weigh in the selection.
Nickb04 (from twitter) said one of the designers, Danielle Reynolds, tweeted about HerStory and “it sounded like a game we could play as a family while also learning more about each of the individual stories that are a part of Women’s History!” His 7-year-old son Paul (right), “liked how you could build the chapters of a book of women from history while learning more about them.”
Photo of Paul and Fannie Lou Hamer card courtesy of Nickb04.
Crossword Puzzle.
In the January 15, 2022 Weekend Edition of the Washington Post Magazine, the clue for 36 Down was: “Freedom Summer Organizer Fannie ____ Hamer.”
Answer: “LOU”.
Puzzle photo courtesy of Ted and Sherri Hammerman.