Fannie Lou Hamer enters the convention hall entrance to the National Democratic Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on August 25, 1964.One hundred six years ago this week, Fannie Lou Hamer was born in rural Mississippi. Though she spent less than 60 years on this earth before her death in 1977, she left a legacy that will last for years to come.
Blain, a 2022 Guggenheim fellow, is an award-winning historian of the 20th century United States with broad interests and specializations in African American history, the modern African diaspora, and women’s and gender studies. She completed a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University and is now a professor of Africana studies and history at Brown University.
Hamer’s legacy stretches far beyond her time on Earth. Still, in many ways, her life was cut short because of the systemic injustices she faced — from police brutality, to medical abuse, to racism, to sexism, to classism. How do we best celebrate Hamer while fully acknowledging the harm that she faced?
One reason Hamer’s story continues to resonate with so many is because so many issues she was fighting against are still prevalent today. As a historian who intentionally brings a contemporary perspective to history, what lessons do you think Fannie Lou Hamer teaches about how to fight against systemic oppression in the present day?Until I Am Free
When you talked about how traveling to Guinea allowed Hamer to more fully understand that Black people in the U.S. were not isolated in their fight for human rights, it reminded me of the James Baldwin quote: “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” Today, there are attempts to shield students from learning about how present-day struggles in the U.S. connect to struggles in the past and ongoing struggles in other countries.
I see so many radical Black activists continuing Hamer’s legacy today. This is especially evident in the fight against voter suppression in the United States as the. While many political leaders have addressed it, I think Black activists and organizers have been at the forefront of the movement to protect voting rights. We still have so many roadblocks to overcome, but I am encouraged by the work of individuals like LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright, founders of the Black Voters Matter Fund.