Political_JimCrow

Fannie Lou Hamer and grassroots organizing

Born a sharecropper, a farmer who gives up a share of their crop as rent, in Mississippi River Delta region of Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer became an organizer for Civil Rights groups in Southern Mississippi. She went door-to-door throughout the region to gain support for her cause, often using gospel songs, a popular form of music, and language that everyone could understand to get her message across. Her talent as a speaker and her dedication to the cause of equal rights helped Ms. Hamer develop into one the most important regional leaders of the Civil Rights movement.

Her success in organizing rural Mississippi eventually led her to become a leader in SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), one of the nation’s largest Civil Rights groups in the early 1960s. Despite constant threats on her life, being fired from her job, and nearly dying from being beaten by white police officers in prison, she remained dedicated to the Civil Rights cause throughout her life.

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TITLE:[Fannie Lou Hamer at the Democratic National Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey, August 1964]

CALL NUMBER:USN&WR COLL - Job no. 12470B, frame 17 [P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:LC-U9-12470B-17 (b&w film neg.)
LC-DIG-ppmsc-01267 (digital file from original negative)
No known restrictions on publication.

SUMMARY:Photograph shows half-length portrait of Hamer seated at a table.

MEDIUM:1 negative : film.

CREATED/PUBLISHED:1964 Aug. 22.

CREATOR:

Leffler, Warren K., photographer.

NOTES:

Title devised by Library staff.

U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection.

Contact sheet available for reference purposes.

SUBJECTS:

Hamer, Fannie Lou--Public appearances--New Jersey--Atlantic City.
Democratic National Convention (1964 : Atlantic City, N.J.)--People.

FORMAT:

Film negatives 1960-1970.
Portrait photographs 1960-1970.

REPOSITORY:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.20540USA

DIGITAL ID:(original) ppmsc 01267

CARD #:2003688126

Music was an important part of the Civil Rights movement. Although many African-Americans in the South had not been given an opportunity to receive a fair and equal education, all could listen and sing to popular songs which they turned into songs of protest to unify people behind their cause. Gospel music, particularly songs about hope, was the most common form of these protest songs. Seen here is gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.

Gospel Singer Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson was born in New Orleans in 1911, and from childhood sang in church. She resisted the lure to secular music saying, "When you sing gospel you have a feeling there is a cure for what's wrong. But when you are through with the blues, you've got nothing to rest on." She first sang in church store-fronts, but as her recognition grew, she began giving church concerts, making records, and touring the U.S. and abroad. She also sang on radio and television. Jackson became involved with the civil rights movement at the urging of Martin Luther King, Jr. In this photograph she is singing at the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom at the Lincoln Memorial--a civil rights rally, held on the third anniversary of the Brown decision. Jackson also sang just before King's "I have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington.

Mahalia Jackson at the May 17, 1957, Prayer Pilgrimage of Freedom in Washington, D.C.
Silver gelatin print.
NAACP Collection, Prints and Photographs Division.
Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-6177/LC-USZ62-119977 (9-16)
Courtesy of the NAACP

Fannie Lou Hamer’s favorite protest song, one which she often sang herself during protests, was “This Little Light of Mine,” a song of hope and defiance.

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The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip

This Little Light o' Mine

PERFORMER(S)
McMurray, Doris

Information about Audio Playback[Rights and Reproductions]

Listen to this recording.
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DATE
5/14/1939

NOTES
For further information on this recording session, including a portion of the song text, please refer to Section 12 of the fieldnotes: Huntsville, Texas and vicinity; May 11-14

FORMAT
sound recording

INSTRUMENTATION
vocals

LOCATION(S)
Goree State Farm, near Huntsville, Walker County, Texas

TYPE OF RECORDING SITE
prison

GENRE
spirituals
religious songs

RELATED DUST JACKET
dj0032

CALL NUMBER
AFC 1939/001 2648b1

DIGITAL ID
afcss39 2648b1

Hamer was the Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a political group formed to challenge the state of Mississippi’s white, anti-Civil Rights Democratic Party at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Hamer became a public figure during the Convention, outwardly castigating the Democratic Party for its failure to offer equal representation to all party factions. Her actions proved successful, eventually garnering her Party two seats in the Convention. However, the MFDP’s success in the convention solidified the changing political demographics of the South. Many of the anti-Civil Rights Democrats whom Hamer had confronted over the issue in 1964 left the national party to join the Republican Party.

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How to obtain copies of this item

TITLE:[Aaron Henry, chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegation, speaks before the Credentials Committee at the Democratic National Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey, August 1964]

CALL NUMBER:USN&WR COLL - Job no. 12470E, frame 28 [P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:LC-U9-12470E-28 (b&w film neg.)
LC-DIG-ppmsca-04299 (digital file from original negative)
No known restrictions on publication.

SUMMARY:Photograph shows Henry seated at a table reading from a document.

MEDIUM:1 negative : film.

CREATED/PUBLISHED:1964 Aug. 22.

CREATOR:

Leffler, Warren K., photographer.

NOTES:

Title devised by Library staff.

U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection.

Contact sheet available for reference purposes.

SUBJECTS:

Henry, Aaron, 1922---Public appearances--New Jersey--Atlantic City.
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party--People--New Jersey--Atlantic City--1960-1970.
Democratic National Convention (1964 : Atlantic City, N.J.)--Meetings.

FORMAT:

Film negatives 1960-1970.

REPOSITORY:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.20540USA

DIGITAL ID:(original) ppmsca 04299

CARD #:2003688166

During the Civil Rights movement, people who protested peacefully were often arrested for their actions. In this instance, a group of teenage girls were put in prison for holding demonstrations for equal rights. “Children’s Marches” were used in Southern protests and became important symbols for the national Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.

"Leesburg, Georgia. Arrested for demonstrating
in Americus, teenage girls. . .," no. 10

Photographs are from:
Memories of the Southern
Civil Rights Movement
portfolio, 1994
Gelatin silver prints
Prints & Photographs Division
Gift of Emory E. Clark, 1996
(84.1 a,b)