Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977)

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• The struggle in general for civil rights after the Second World War

Summary Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer (1918–1977)

From the Oral History Department, University of Southern Mississippi, 11 May 1999. A brief biography based on an oral interview.

Fannie Lou Hamer

By Ted Glick, 1 April 2001. Fannie Lou Hamer died on April 14, 1977, at the age of 59. She and her husband, Pap, were penniless, and friends had to raise money to pay for her funeral. How could a woman who meant so much to so many people have an ending so sad?

Review of Chana Kai Lee, For Freedom’s Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer

Reviewed for H-SAWH by Kate Wittenstein, Gustavus Adolphus College, [1 August 2001]. The author makes extensive use of personal interviews, oral histories, and manuscript collections to rescue Hamer from seeing her largely in terms of her iconic and symbolic role within the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Hamer was not simply a strong black woman who met all threats and challenges with determination and fearlessness. Her reality was more complex.