Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer Collection, 1967-2001, [manuscript],

Originals in box 4 are restricted; reference copies in other boxes must be used instead.

This collection consists of articles, brochures, correspondence, photographs, legal records, and corporation lists that document the life and work of Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer. The collection is divided into five series: Correspondence and Memorabilia; Writings and Speeches; Organizational Records; Works and Tributes; and Graphic Materials. Series one contains materials related to the life, activities, and legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer. Series two contains copies of her writings and speeches. Series three contains documents of the Freedom Farm Corporation, and letters, brochures, and pamphlets of the Mississippi Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Series four contains copies of magazine and newspaper articles, pamphlets, and brochures that describe the life and work of Fannie Lou Hamer. Series five contains photographs of Hamer, her family and associates, and personalities of social and Civil Rights agencies that were active during this period.

Preferred citation: Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer Collection (T/012), Tougaloo College Civil Rights Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Provenance: Loan of Tougaloo College of Madison County, MS, in 2004.

Fannie Lou Townsend was born on October 6, 1917, in Montgomery County, Mississippi. She was the last of twenty children born to sharecroppers James Lee and Ella Bramlett Townsend. At six years old, Townsend joined her family in the fields to pick cotton. Although she enjoyed going to school for short periods during the year, Townsend left school permanently when she was twelve (1929) in order to help the family survive. In 1944, Fannie Lou Townsend married Perry (Pap) Hamer, a sharecropper who came to the Delta from Kilmichael, Montgomery County, Mississippi. After their marriage, the Hamers moved to the W. D. Marlow plantation in Ruleville. There Fannie Lou worked as a farmer, a timekeeper for the plantation farmers, and an insurance saleswoman. In 1954, the Hamers adopted two young girls that had been placed in their care, Dorothy Jean and Vergie Ree. In 1962, Fannie Lou Hamer attended a mass meeting in Ruleville, sponsored by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The SNCC activists encouraged the audience at the meeting to go to Indianola, Sunflower County, Mississippi, to register to vote. Hamer attempted to register but failed. She was fired from her job as plantation timekeeper and evicted from her home when she returned to Ruleville. In 1964, after extensive training by members of SNCC, Hamer returned to Indianola, passed the constitutional section of the literacy test, and became a registered voter.

She was one of the delegates selected to challange the regular delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention. She traveled extensively, raising money for the Civil Rights Movement, particularly the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party. In the 1970s, Hamer turned most of her attention and energy to the Freedom Farm Corporation. It was a project that Hamer hoped would make poor people economically independent. However, poor management, natural disasters, and faulty loans caused the Freedom Farm Corporation to fail in 1976. Fannie Lou Hamer continued her Civil Rights activities in many different spheres. She became a founding member of the National Women's Political Caucus; unsuccessfully ran for the Mississippi State Senate in 1971; and gave economic aid to citizens in Sunflower County. In early 1977, Hamer was hospitalized for breast cancer and other ailments. Fannie Lou Hamer died of heart failure on March 14, 1977.

Processed by: Tougaloo College staff; MDAH staff, 2005.