Fannie Lou Hamer Marker Unveiling Planned in Husband’s Hometown; Dr. Leslie McLemore to Speak
APRIL 11, 2023 - KILMICHAEL, MS - A historical marker honoring civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer will be unveiled in Kilmichael, MS on Saturday, April 22 at 11 am. The marker commemorates Hamer’s connection to the small town in Montgomery County, where her husband, Perry “Pap” Hamer was born and raised.
Though Hamer often said she was born in Montgomery County, she testified in federal court in December 1963 that she was born in Tomnolen in Webster County, which borders Montgomery County. Her family moved to a plantation in the Mississippi Delta when she was two years old.
Chris and Wiley Snell
The unveiling will take place at 311 North Depot Avenue in the heart of downtown Kilmichael. The idea for the marker, as well as the funding, came from Montgomery County native Chris Snell and her husband, Wiley, a retired high school administrator from Fort Lauderdale, FL. The couple, who are both Rust College graduates, worked with Jim Woodrick and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) for two years in their effort to preserve the Hamer’s legacy in the town of less than 1,000 residents.
“The marker is by the side of the road where it can be seen by people of all races,” said Chris Snell, a retired library director. “This marker is a reminder that we are in this space because Fannie Lou Hamer fought and gave her life so that future generations can continue their thrust for excellence by lifting up their voices as she did.”
Additional funding for the event was provided by the Kappas of Rust College and the Zetas as part of their outreach activities.
Dr. Leslie Burl McLemore, who worked alongside Hamer and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (M.F.D.P.) is the guest speaker.
Activist and educator Dr. Leslie Burl McLemore
“We don’t concentrate enough on how brilliant Fannie Lou Hamer was and her ability to adapt to her new environment - and her new environment was in the civil rights movement,” McLemore said. “She made the remarkable transition from being a timekeeper on the Marlow Plantation in Sunflower County to becoming an active member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In fact, Mrs. Hamer became the chief fundraiser and went on a nationwide tour immediately when she was shepherded from rural Mississippi to Tougaloo College and on to Fisk University by Charles McLaurin.”
Hamer’s last surviving child, Jacqueline Hamer Flakes had been asked to be the guest speaker, but declined due to failing health. Flakes died on March 27.
Pap and Fannie Lou Hamer
McLemore, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Jackson State University, was the founding director of the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy at Jackson State in 1997. McLemore said Hamer was 44 years old when she joined SNCC while he and the other volunteers were in their late teens and early 20s.
“She immediately adapted to working with young people,” he said. “So, I have always been struck by that ability and that reflects how brilliant Mrs. Hamer was. And I think that is an aspect of her life that we don’t emphasize nearly enough. That’s what I want to capture at the unveiling, that we often overlook the brilliance of Fannie Lou Hamer.”
The Snells own the C & S Event Center where the program for the unveiling will take place, and they hope it will host future educational classes and discussions on current events and varied topics for local residents.
“We want to expose the many gifts that are available within the community,” Chris said. “And having the marker placed outside is a perfect reminder to them of what Fannie Lou Hamer did here and to tell her story over and over again. The story of her brilliance and her bravery.”
This will be the second marker in Montgomery County that acknowledges Hamer’s efforts for racial equity. The first was unveiled on June 9, 2022, in Winona at the site of the former jail where Hamer and several other activists were beaten in June 1963. A third marker, as part of the Mississippi Civil Rights Trail, will be unveiled on June 9, 2023, at the site of Staley’s Café/Trailways Depot where Hamer and the others were arrested prior to the jailhouse beating.
A sharecropper-turned-activist, Fannie Lou Hamer was instrumental in helping thousands of Black people to register and vote during the 1960s and 70s, She fed even more when she launched her Freedom Farm Cooperative and pig bank. She married Pap in July 1944 when they both worked and lived on the Marlow Plantation in Ruleville. She was fired and evicted by Marlow when she tried to register to vote in August 1962.
She and Pap returned often to Kilmichael to visit his father and siblings. Relatives who still live in the area said they would attend services at Shady Grove Methodist Church where Fannie Lou would sing. Many of Pap’s relatives are buried in the church’s cemetery which is about five miles from where the marker is located. Pap and Hamer, who died at the age of 59 on March 14, 1977, are buried in Ruleville.