Synopsis of Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It

by SAM MAUCERI

E. Faye Butler in “Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It!” by Cheryl L. West. Photo by Liz Lauren. In the present day, local audience to sing along. She group, Fannie began singing political organizers and recalls attending meetings “This Little Light of Mine”, community members are with the Student Nonviolent lifting everyone’s spirit. The gathered at an outdoor rally, Coordinating Committee audience in the present day encouraging everyone to (SNCC), who organized joins in. “Get Out the Vote”. Suddenly, Black people in Mississippi a flatbed truck decorated to fight against segregation Fannie informs the audience with political signs arrives and to exercise their voting of the more dangerous on the scene, horn honking rights. Fannie describes consequences of her activism. and blasting the protest song attempting to register to When the owner of the “I’m On My Way to Freedom”. vote for the first time at the plantation where she was Legendary 1960s civil rights courthouse in 1962 with a sharecropper found out organizer Fannie Lou Hamer, other Black Mississippians. that Fannie had attempted a middle-aged Black woman, At the courthouse they were to register, he fired her and emerges from the truck. She given a literacy test which her daughters. Later, white climbs onto the back of the demanded they write down Mississipians shot into the truck with a musician, who sets the name of their employer, home where they thought up his harmonicas and guitar. and were instructed to write Fannie had been sleeping. Fannie addresses the crowd an interpretation of the state Fannie asserts that these directly, saying that she is sick laws; both were discriminatory attacks would not keep her and tired of corrupt and racist requirements created to from exercising her rights politicians. She urges everyone keep Black Americans from and empowering other Black to vote in the upcoming registering. Unable to register Mississipians to do the same. election. successfully, the organizers She leads the crowd in “I Ain’t got back on their bus, Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Fannie begins to sing “Oh which police immediately ‘Round”. Freedom”, encouraging the surrounded. To rally her 5

Fannie delivers an informal sermon, recounting both support she received and conflict she faced from the church in her quest to secure rights for Black Americans. Fannie tells the crowd not to be mad at her for telling uncomfortable truths. She preaches on violent policing of Black and brown people, racism perpetuated by white women, and sexual assault against Black women. She criticizes the United States’ refusal to acknowledge that the country was formed on indigenous people’s land.

Holding a sign reading “To Hope is to Vote!”, Fannie leads the crowd in “We Shall Not Be Moved”. She recounts her work getting Black Mississipians registered to vote, facing men who had also been violent opposition, and finally arrested and who had been registering to vote herself. coerced by police into Exuberant, she leads “Woke beating her. As she fought for Up This Morning With My her life, Fannie recalled her Mind On Freedom”. mother’s fierce protection of She marvels at the tireless her children. In the present, work of civil rights activists she sings a song her mother who came before her, used to sing: “Oh Lord You and how it inspired her to Know Just How I Feel”. keep going. Eventually, she attended a voter registration Fannie informs the crowd workshop with a group of that she was charged organizers in South Carolina. with disorderly conduct On their bus ride home into and resisting arrest, and Mississippi, Fannie and several that the beating left her others were violently arrested with permanent damage when two members of the to her legs and kidneys. group asked to be served Nevertheless, she swore to at a rest stop restaurant. continue in her fight. She Fannie recounts the traumatic leads the audience in “I’ve memory of being brutally Been Changed”. beaten in her cell by police officers, as well as two Black Fannie criticizes white resistance to the Civil Rights Movement and addresses the realities of racism in all regions of the country, not just the South. She expresses disbelief at people who are apathetic to voting, knowing how hard she and other activists fought to secure that right for Black Americans.

She leads the crowd in “Certainly Lord”, asserting that she wants all aspects of her freedom right now, not one bit at a time. She urges the crowd to unite across racial groups, reminding the white audience members that a house divided cannot stand. Fannie and the crowd sing a spirited rendition of “I’m On My Way to Freedom” as she triumphantly rides away in the truck.