Presidential Medal of Freedom
Saturday, January 4, 2025
The White House - Washington D.C.
Vice President Kamala Harris
The official White House invitation for recipients and guests for the last Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony under the Biden-Harris Administration.
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr
January 4, 2025 Posthumous Recipient: Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Certificate
Fannie Lou Hamer (1917 - 1977)
“Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer transformed the struggle for racial justice in America. As a founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, she challenged the exclusion of Black voices in the political system and laid the groundwork for the 1965 Voting Rights Act.” - The White House Medal of Freedom Biography
The Ceremony.
President Joe Biden presents the Medal of Freedom to Doris Hamer Richardson, who accepted on behalf of her aunt, Fannie Lou Hamer. Photo by Leigh Vogel. Scientist Bill Nye and Designer Ralph Lauren also appear to the left.
During her relatively short career which spanned just 15 years, Fannie Lou Hamer won numerous awards, most of which are housed at Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, MS.
However, on Saturday, January 4, 2025, she was given the highest award granted to a civilian, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In his remarks, President Joseph R. Biden acknowledged Fannie Lou Hamer and 18 others when he said: “For the final time as president I have the honor of bestowing the Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor, on a group of extraordinary, truly extraordinary people, who gave their sacred effort to shape the culture and the cause of America.”
“Let me just say to each of you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” he continued, “for all you’ve done to help this country.”
Doris Hamer Richardson seated on stage between actor Michael J. Fox and former First Lady, United States Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Photo courtesy of the White House.
Doris Hamer Richardson is greeted on stage by President Biden. Photo courtesy of the White House.
President Biden with all honorees and family members of those accepting on their behalf. There were four posthumous honorees: Civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer (Niece: Doris Hamer Richardson), 25th Secretary of Defense Ashton Baldwin Carter (Wife: Stephanie Carter), 43rd Governor of Michigan George W. Romney (Son: Mitt Romney) and former attorney general Robert “Bobby” Francis Kennedy (Daughter: Kerry Kennedy). Photo by Valerie Plesch.
In the foreground, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
The ceremony was covered by numerous media outlets such as MSNBC.
President Biden presents the Medal of Freedom to Richardson on behalf of her aunt, Fannie Lou Hamer.
(Left) Richardson and President Biden stand during the presentation while a speaker reads Fannie Lou Hamer’s introduction:
“The Presidential Medal of Freedom is preented to Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer. One of the most powerful voices of the Civil Rights Movement, Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer spent 18 years as a sharecropper in Mississippi before learning that Black citizens had a constitutional right to vote. With that newfound freedom, she sacrificed her own safety to organize and register fellow Black voters across the South. Brutally beaten, but undeterred, for decades she spoke truth to power to expand political participation and economic rights for all Americans, and left these words echoing in the nation’s conscience: “Nobody’s free, until everybody is free.”
Photos.
(Left) Doris Hamer Richardson with her niece, Angela Hamer Johnson, who attended the ceremony with her at the White House. Richardson’s father and Johnson’s grandfather was Pap Hamer’s brother. Below, Richardson and Johnson head to the White House.
“One of my favorite memories is visiting Aunt Fannie Lou’s house when I was about 10 or 11 and playing with her two daughters, my cousins, Nook and Cookie. At that age, I didn’t fully understand the profound influence Aunt Fannie Lou had on others and how fearless she truly was.”
- Angela Hamer Johnson
Additional guests for the ceremony included Selena Lauterer, Chris Hastings and Jed Oppenheim who worked on the award-winning film, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America with Hamer’s niece, Monica Land. Lauterer, Hastings and Land, who was unable to attend the ceremony, were the executive producers and Oppenheim provided primary funding for the film as a former program officer with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. (To contact a Fannie Lou Hamer family member email us at flhamerica@gmail.com)
The group meets up before the ceremony.
Fannie Lou Hamer's niece, Angela Hamer Johnson, at the White House.
Chris Hastings with his wife, Hillary Rosenfeld and son, Miles.
Jed Oppenheim with his wife, Harriett, and their son, Salam.
The White House Band.
Angela Hamer Johnson, Miles Hastings, Chris Hastings, Hillary Rosenfeld, Selena Lauterer, Jed, Harriett and Salam Oppenheim.
President Joseph R. Biden speaks at the medal ceremony.
The best seats in the house!
Five-year-old Salam Oppenheim is completely unphased by who's sitting in front of him - Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff!
Harriett Openheim with Vice President Kamala Harris in the background.
Chris Hastings, Jed Oppenheim and Selena Lauterer.
Harriett Oppenheim (left) was captured in a warm exchange between Medal of Freedom Recipient Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also pictured.
Medal of Freedom Recipient Magic Johnson (r) with (l to r) Miles and Chris Hastings, Angela Hamer Johnson, Hillary Rosenfeld and Doris Hamer Richardson.
Doris Hamer Richardson (right) with Medal of Freedom Recipient and actor Denzel Washington (center) and his wife, Pauletta (left).
Selena Lauterer and Medal of Freedom Recipient Hillary Rodham Clinton
Jed and Harriett Oppenheim with Medal of Freedom Recipient and NBA Legend Ervin "Magic" Johnson.
Selena Lauterer and Medal of Freedom Recipient Jane Goodall.
White House napkin at the reception after the ceremony.
Medal of Freedom Recipient Hillary Rodham Clinton with Miles and Chris Hastings, Doris Hamer Richardson, Hillary Rosenfeld and Angela Hamer Johnson.
Chris Hastings and his wife, Hillary and son, Miles at the ceremony.
Doris Hamer Richardson with her two nieces, Angela Hamer Johnson and Terri Hoskins.
“I will always remember Aunt Fannie Lou, especially when it’s time to vote. She gave me two choices: To vote or to protest. I chose to vote. And back then, we had to interpret the Constitution before we could vote. I found out that I was the first Black person to vote in my hometown of Montgomery County in Mississippi. She will never be forgotten.”
- Minnie Hamer Hoskins
President Joseph R. Biden, Doris Hamer Richardson and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
“This recognition is well-deserved and certainly a timely reminder of the cost of freedom. Aunt Fannie committed her life to ease the suffering of the disenfranchised.”
- Marilyn Mays
Jed, Harriett and Salam Oppenheim, Selena Lauterer, President Joseph R. Biden, Doris Hamer Richardson, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Angela Hamer Johnson, Chris and Miles Hastings and Hillary Rosenfeld. Photo courtesy of the White House.