{"id":559,"date":"2014-09-02T22:12:17","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T22:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/penning.us\/Nick2\/?p=559"},"modified":"2014-09-02T22:12:17","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T22:12:17","slug":"fannie-lou-hamer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penning.us\/Nick2\/2014\/09\/02\/fannie-lou-hamer\/","title":{"rendered":"Fannie Lou Hamer"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1963 I wondered, “What did Martin Luther King mean, when he said, ‘Free at last’?” because, I thought, “Black people are free, aren’t they?” If you ever thought that way, then read this, please. Fannie Lou Hamer tells you just how “free” a black person was. Was?<\/em><\/p>\n

Fifty five years ago — on August 22, 1964 — a dramatic appeal was made to the Democratic National Party, at its national convention in Atlantic City, to seat African American Mississippians as that state’s delegates to the convention; instead of the all-white, segregationist delegation.<\/p>\n

The most powerful testimony was given by Mississippi sharecropper, Fannie Lou Hamer. Her speech — spoken, not read — says volumes about the horrific treatment African Americans have suffered from hundreds of years of slavery, terror and discrimination. <\/p>\n

This short introductory video<\/a> (also at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=07PwNVCZCcY<\/a>)<\/em> gives the context for Ms. Hamer’s testimony, including how then-President Lyndon Johnson halted the broadcast of Hamer’s entire speech, for fear of its impact on white voters.<\/p>\n

And this is the link<\/a> to her full testimony, as spoken and transcribed:<\/p>\n

Fannie Lou Hamer went on to become a member of the Democratic National Committee from 1968-1971, and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1972.<\/p>\n

Fannie Lou Hammer died in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, on March 14, 1977. She was 59 years old.<\/p>\n