Kid's Books
Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by Andrea Davis Pinkney
The stories of 10 incredible black women who faced prejudice and inequality. All of them had to speak up for what they believed, even when it seemed as if no one was listening. Pinckney has done her research. In nine pages, she has presented each woman's life and accomplishment in a succinct, readable style. Students will find this an excellent starting point when researching these particular women. Books for further reading are listed at the end of the book. Highly Recommended.
Publication Date: 2000
Books that include Fannie Lou Hamer
Speeches & Oration
Rhetoric, Religion, and the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1965 by Davis W. Houck & David E. Dixon, eds.
fifty new speeches and sermons delivered by both famed leaders and little-known civil rights activists, on national stages and in quiet shacks. The speeches carry novel insights into the ways in which individuals and communities utilized religious rhetoric to upset the racial status quo in divided America during the civil rights era. Houck and Dixon's work illustrates again how a movement so prominent in historical scholarship still has much to teach us.
Publication Date: 2006
Biographies & Autobiography
For Freedom's Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer by Chana Kai Lee
Lee's biography is less committed to exploring Hamer's personal life than to charting her growth as an activist and examining the profound impact of gender, sexuality, violence and poverty on the early civil rights movement. This biography vividly brings to light a crucial aspect of the civil rights movement that until now has not been given its due.
Publication Date: 1999
The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer by Chris Myers Asch
Asch explores these paradoxes, telling the story of two larger-than-life personalities who epitomized the county's extremes: the senator, James O. Eastland, a wealthy white cotton planter who was one of the most powerful segregationists in the U.S. Senate, and the sharecropper, Fannie Lou Hamer, who grew up desperately poor just a few miles from the Eastland plantation and rose to become the spiritual leader of the Mississippi freedom struggle.
Publication Date: 2008
Fannie Lou Hamer: The Life of a Civil Rights Icon by Earnest N. Bracey
This book commemorates and explores the life of one of Mississippi's great civil rights activists, Fannie Lou Hamer. Known for her daring, her brinkmanship and her impassioned speech-making, Hamer rose to prominence in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, an intrepid group which tried to unseat the predominantly white Democrats of Mississippi during the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
Publication Date: 2011
Poetry / Play
1977: Poem for Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer by June Jordan
One of the most widely-published and highly-acclaimed African American writers of her generation, poet, playwright and essayist June Jordan was known for her fierce commitment to human rights and political activism. Over a career that produced twenty-seven volumes of poems, essays, libretti, and work for children, Jordan engaged the fundamental struggles of her era: for civil rights, women’s rights, and sexual freedom.
Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou
Angelou's letter begins, "I wanted to tell you directly of some lessons I have learned and under what conditions I have learned them..." and devotes pages 83-85 to Fannie Lou Hamer.
Fannie Lou Hamer: This Little Light: A Two-Act Drama by Billie Jean Young
Young has mesmerized audiences with her two-act drama depicting the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, American voting rights activist and civil rights leader. Hamer was a sharecropper in Mississippi who was drawn into the Civil Rights Movement by her desire to secure equality and voting rights for all America’s people.
Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by
The stories of 10 incredible black women who faced prejudice and inequality. All of them had to speak up for what they believed, even when it seemed as if no one was listening. Pinckney has done her research. In nine pages, she has presented each woman's life and accomplishment in a succinct, readable style. Students will find this an excellent starting point when researching these particular women. Books for further reading are listed at the end of the book. Highly Recommended.
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by
Featuring vibrant mixed-media art full of intricate detail, Voice of Freedom celebrates Fannie Lou Hamer’s life and legacy with a message of hope, determination, and strength.
The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches, and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle, 1954-1990 by
Companion primary source reader to the PBS documentary series Eyes on the Prize. Chapter: Fannie Lou Hamer -- Interim report of the US Commission on Civil Rights, April 16, 1963 -- Freedom Summer.
Freedom Summer: A Brief History with Documents by
Annelle Ponder and Fannie Lou Hamer describe events in Winona, Mississippi, 1963 and organizing Freedom Summer.
The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It Is by
Hamer's 21 most important speeches and testimonies including the speeches Hamer delivered at the 1968 and 1972 conventions, speeches she gave closer to home, with Malcolm X in Harlem, and at the founding of the National Women's Political Caucus.
A Voice That Could Stir an Army: Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rhetoric of the Black Freedom Movement by
A rhetorical biography that tells the story of Hamer's life by focusing on how she employed symbols-- images, words, and even material objects such as the ballot, food, and clothing--to construct persuasive public personae, to influence audiences, and to effect social change.
Can I Get a Witness? Prophetic Religious Voices of African American Women: An Anthology by
Includes an analysis of the “Sick and tired of being sick and tired” speech by Fannie Lou Hamer.
Say It Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches by
Fannie Lou Hamer's Testimony before the Credentials Committee, Democratic National Convention, 1964.
Rhetoric, Religion, and the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1965 by
fifty new speeches and sermons delivered by both famed leaders and little-known civil rights activists, on national stages and in quiet shacks. The speeches carry novel insights into the ways in which individuals and communities utilized religious rhetoric to upset the racial status quo in divided America during the civil rights era. Houck and Dixon's work illustrates again how a movement so prominent in historical scholarship still has much to teach us.
For Freedom's Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer by
Lee's biography is less committed to exploring Hamer's personal life than to charting her growth as an activist and examining the profound impact of gender, sexuality, violence and poverty on the early civil rights movement. This biography vividly brings to light a crucial aspect of the civil rights movement that until now has not been given its due.
This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer by
In this thorough, sensitive biography, Mills shows Hamer inspired by her mother and her faith, propelled by anger at her unbidden sterilization and sustained by deeply spiritual, invoking songs, like the one that serves as this book's title.
The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer by
Asch explores these paradoxes, telling the story of two larger-than-life personalities who epitomized the county's extremes: the senator, James O. Eastland, a wealthy white cotton planter who was one of the most powerful segregationists in the U.S. Senate, and the sharecropper, Fannie Lou Hamer, who grew up desperately poor just a few miles from the Eastland plantation and rose to become the spiritual leader of the Mississippi freedom struggle.
Fannie Lou Hamer: The Life of a Civil Rights Icon by
This book commemorates and explores the life of one of Mississippi's great civil rights activists, Fannie Lou Hamer. Known for her daring, her brinkmanship and her impassioned speech-making, Hamer rose to prominence in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, an intrepid group which tried to unseat the predominantly white Democrats of Mississippi during the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin by
Poem by Angela Jackson titled "Fannie" (of Fannie Lou Hamer). Of Poetry & Protest is an excellent introduction to African American poetry and is a must-have for every reader committed to social justice and racial harmony.
Letter to My Daughter by
Angelou's letter begins, "I wanted to tell you directly of some lessons I have learned and under what conditions I have learned them..." and devotes pages 83-85 to Fannie Lou Hamer.
Fannie Lou Hamer: This Little Light: A Two-Act Drama by
Young has mesmerized audiences with her two-act drama depicting the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, American voting rights activist and civil rights leader. Hamer was a sharecropper in Mississippi who was drawn into the Civil Rights Movement by her desire to secure equality and voting rights for all America’s people.
