WEBVTT - 012724 Way Black History Fact Fannie Lou Hamer

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<v Speaker 1>With that in mind, it's time for the Way Black

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<v Speaker 1>History Fact that I'm going to have to get through

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<v Speaker 1>this quickly because there's a lot here, but it's very important,

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<v Speaker 1>I promise. Today's a Way Black History Fact is sponsored

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<v Speaker 1>by Underground Beach Club. From the Streets to the Beach.

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<v Speaker 1>For the latest in beachwear, visit Underground Beach Club dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>This comes from Women's History dot org. And we're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about Fanny lou Townsend Hamer. Remember that name. She's a

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<v Speaker 1>very amazing person, all right. She rose from humble beginnings

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<v Speaker 1>in the Mississippi Delta to become one of the most important, passionate,

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<v Speaker 1>and powerful voices of the civil and voting rights movements,

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<v Speaker 1>and a leader in the efforts for greater economic opportunities

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<v Speaker 1>for African Americans. Hamer was born on October sixth, nineteen seventeen,

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<v Speaker 1>in Montgomery County, Mississippi, the twentieth and last child of

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<v Speaker 1>sharecroppers Luella and James Townsend, and age six, Hamer joined

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<v Speaker 1>her family picking cotton. By twelve, she left school to work.

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<v Speaker 1>In nineteen forty four, she married Harry Hamer, and the

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<v Speaker 1>couple toiled on the Mississippi Plantation owned by bad Marlowe

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<v Speaker 1>until nineteen sixty two. Because Hamer was the only worker

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<v Speaker 1>who could read and wrote, she also served as the

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<v Speaker 1>plantation timekeeper. In nineteen sixty one, Hamer received a hysterectomy

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<v Speaker 1>by a white doctor without her consent while undergoing surgery

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<v Speaker 1>to remove a uterine tumor. Such forced sterilization of black

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<v Speaker 1>women as a way to reduce the black population was

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<v Speaker 1>so widespread it was dubbed a Mississippi appendectomy. Unable to

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<v Speaker 1>have children of their own, the Hamers adopted two daughters.

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<v Speaker 1>That summer, Hamer attended a meeting led by civil rights

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<v Speaker 1>activist Jane Foreman of the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee

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<v Speaker 1>SNCC and James Bevell of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC.

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<v Speaker 1>Hammer was incensed by efforts to deny blacks the right

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<v Speaker 1>to vote. She became an SNCC organizer and on August

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<v Speaker 1>thirty first, nineteen sixty two, led seventeen volunteers to register

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<v Speaker 1>to vote at Indian App Indianola, Mississippi Courthouse, sorry denied

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<v Speaker 1>the right to vote due to an unfair literacy test.

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<v Speaker 1>The group was harassed on their way home when police

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<v Speaker 1>stopped their bus and fined them one hundred dollars for

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<v Speaker 1>the trump up charge that the bus was too yellow

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<v Speaker 1>that night. Right that night, Marlowe fired Hamer for her

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<v Speaker 1>attempt to vote. Her husband was required to stay until

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<v Speaker 1>the harvest. Marlowe confiscated much of their property. The Hamers

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<v Speaker 1>moved to Ruleville, Mississippi, and Sunflower County with very little.

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<v Speaker 1>In June nineteen sixty three, after successfully competing a voter

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<v Speaker 1>completing a voter registration program in Charleston, South Carolina, Hamer

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<v Speaker 1>and several other black women were arrested for sitting in

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<v Speaker 1>a whites only bus station restaurant in Winona, Mississippi. At

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<v Speaker 1>the Winona jail House, she and several of the women

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<v Speaker 1>were brutally beaten, leaving Hamer with lifelong injuries from a

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<v Speaker 1>blood clot in her eye, kidney damage, and leg damage.

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<v Speaker 1>In nineteen fifty four, Hamer's national reputation soared as she

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<v Speaker 1>co founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which challenged the

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<v Speaker 1>local Democratic Party's efforts to block black participation. Hamer and

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<v Speaker 1>other MFDP members went to the Democratic National Convention that

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<v Speaker 1>year arguing to be recognized as the official delegation, but

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<v Speaker 1>Hammer spoke before the Credential Committee calling for mandatory integrated

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<v Speaker 1>state delegations. President Lyndon Johnson held a televised press conference

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<v Speaker 1>so she would not get any television airtime. But her

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<v Speaker 1>delegations had become a reality, and Hamer was a member

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<v Speaker 1>of the Mississippi's first integrated delegation. All right, I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>going to finish this, but in nineteen sixty four, Hamer

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<v Speaker 1>helped organize the Freedom Summer, which brought hundreds of college

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<v Speaker 1>shoes in black and white to help with African American

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<v Speaker 1>voter registration and segregated South from skipped down. Frustrated by

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<v Speaker 1>the political process, Hamer returned to economic strategy for greater

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<v Speaker 1>racial equality. In nineteen sixty eight, she began a Pig

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<v Speaker 1>Bank to provide three pigs to black farmers to breed, raise,

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<v Speaker 1>and slaughter. A year later, she launched a Freedom Farm Cooperative.

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<v Speaker 1>I have to skip down. There's so many great things here,

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<v Speaker 1>but traveling, fundraising, and bailing health took her from the

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<v Speaker 1>day to day operations, and she died of breast cancer

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<v Speaker 1>at age fifteen nine in nineteen seventy seven. Please read

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<v Speaker 1>more about her