Fannie Lou Hamer’s America Film Awarded Library of Congress/Ken Burns Fellowship
November 23, 2020 – WASHINGTON, D.C.
A new and original documentary that allows civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer to tell her own story in her words, has been awarded The Better Angels/Lavine Fellowship, a new mentorship program for history documentary filmmakers whose work explores inclusive stories drawn from America’s past.
The Fellowship is a new element of the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, an annual award recognizing documentary films that use original research and a compelling narrative to tell stories about some aspect of American history.
“The Better Angels/Lavine Fellowship means that promising documentarians will receive the same kind of networking opportunities and support I received early in my own career — and which were key to my development as a filmmaker,” Ken Burns said. “It’s especially meaningful to launch this Fellowship in a year that has been so challenging for independent filmmakers. I’m proud to partner with Jeannie and Jonathan (Lavine) on this initiative.”
Each year, beginning in November 2020, five filmmakers who submit films to the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film and who demonstrate significant potential will be selected as Fellows. The film will receive a $5,000 grant and up to 10 hours of free mentorship and consultation with expert advisors from the professional filmmaking community.
Directed and edited by Joy Elaine Davenport, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America, is one of the beneficiaries.
"We are thrilled to be in the inaugural class of Better Angels/Lavine Fellowship awardees,” Davenport said. “No doubt, wherever she is, Mrs. Hamer is thrilled, too. Bringing her story to the screen, in her own words, is a gift for which the team at Fannie Lou Hamer's America will always be grateful.”
A Mississippi sharecropper-turned-civil-rights-activist, Fannie Lou Hamer is known for her powerful speeches, soul-stirring songs, and impassioned pleas for equal rights. A voting rights advocate and a humanitarian, Hamer helped thousands to register and vote in her home state and provided food, clothing, and shelter for the poor. Hamer helped organize Freedom Summer in 1964 and founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party which greatly influenced the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In her testimony before the Credentials Committee on national television, Hamer spoke out about the several assassination attempts on her life and the vicious beating she received at the hands of law enforcement agents in Winona, MS. Hamer died of breast cancer, hypertension and the after-effects of that jailhouse beating on March 14, 1977. Fannie Lou Hamer’s America uses archival audio footage, speeches and rarely seen television appearances recorded throughout her activist and political career to tell Hamer’s story.
"I cried when I saw it,” said Courtney Chapin, Executive Director of The Better Angels Society. “And we are so thrilled to recognize Fannie Lou Hamer’s America with a Better Angels Lavine Fellowship Award. This new program recognizes excellence in American history documentary filmmaking. Our goal is to collaborate with filmmakers telling America’s stories and provide them with resources and support. Like the Lavine Family, who makes this fellowship possible, we at The Better Angels Society recognize that our democracy is strengthened and enriched when more Americans see films like Fannie Lou Hamer’s America.”
Now in post-production and slated for broadcast in 2021, the film was produced and developed by Hamer’s niece, Monica Land, and filmmakers Dr. Pablo Correa and Robert “RJ” Fitzpatrick were videographers. The lead researchers and consultants were Fannie Lou Hamer historians and scholars Drs. Maegan Parker Brooks and Davis Houck.
"Our team is honored and humbled to be included among the inaugural recipients of The Better Angels/Lavine Fellowship. This support will take us closer to our goal of reintroducing Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer to an America who dearly needs to hear from her,” said Houck. “Fifty years ago, she knew this country was sick - not with an uncontrolled pandemic, but with its founding disease of racism. In 2020 the sickness continues to ravage our nation, and her voice is the medicine that we so desperately need."
The Fellowship is endowed by Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine, who also provide funding to The Better Angels Society to endow the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film through the Crimson Lion/Lavine Family Foundation.
“We are thrilled to support this new program,” noted philanthropists Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine. “Through The Better Angels/Lavine Fellowship, Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film will expand its efforts to foster the creation of balanced, well-researched documentaries about the areas and figures in American history who have often been overlooked and under-discussed. We are so excited to see the incredible work The Better Angels Lavine Fellows create.”
About Ken Burns
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for over 40 years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The Statue of Liberty; Huey Long; Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery; Frank Lloyd Wright; Mark Twain; Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson; The War; The National Parks: America’s Best Idea; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; Jackie Robinson; Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War; The Vietnam War, The Mayo Clinic: Faith – Hope – Science, and most recently Country Music. Ken’s films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including sixteen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Oscar nominations; and in September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Ken was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
About The Better Angels Society
The Better Angels Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating Americans about their history through documentary film. Their mission is to educate, engage and provoke thoughtful discussion among people of every political persuasion and ideology. They work to ensure historically significant films are completed, broadcast, promoted, and shared in ways that reach and inform as many people as possible through robust educational and civic outreach. The Society is currently raising funds for films in production and planned over the next ten years. The Better Angels Society is also working to ensure that the next generation of documentary filmmakers, inspired by Ken Burns and his team, receive the education, mentoring, training, and support they need to continue his legacy.
About the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.