July 2, 2012
Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer's Gravesite

"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired."

-Fannie Lou Hamer

".On June 3, 1963, Fannie Lou Hamer and other civil rights workers arrived in Winona, MS by bus. They were ordered off the bus and taken to Montgomery County Jail. The story continues...


 "..Then three white men came into my room. One was a state highway policeman (he had the marking on his sleeve)... They said they were going to make me wish I was dead. They made me lay down on my face and they ordered two Negro prisoners to beat me with a blackjack. That was unbearable. The first prisoner beat me until he was exhausted, then the second Negro began to beat me. I had polio when I was about six years old. I was limp. I was holding my hands behind me to protect my weak side. I began to work my feet. My dress pulled up and I tried to smooth it down. One of the policemen walked over and raised my dress as high as he could. They beat me until my body was hard, 'til I couldn't bend my fingers or get up when they told me to. That's how I got this blood clot in my eye - the sight's nearly gone now. My kidney was injured from the blows they gave me on the back."  (Mrs. Hamer)
Mrs Hamer was left in the cell, bleeding and battered, listening to the screams of Ann Powder, a fellow civil rights worker, who was also undergoing a severe beating in another cell. She overheard white policemen talking about throwing their bodies into the Big Black River where they would never be found.


Gentle Reader,

Today we visited the gravesite of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer -- Civil Rights Activist, Humanitarian, and Voter Rights activist.  A very moving experience...  She was tireless in her pursuit of Civil Rights, often suffering greatly as a result.  Her home was the center of planning, especially in regard to SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). And we were told that Mrs. Hamer was forever supplying food for the hungry, any way she could.  She was a wise, generous, determined, kind soul...and she inspired so many others to give selflessly, too.  

 Mrs. Hamer is buried next to her beloved husband, Pap