S9.com / Biographies /
Fannie Lou Townsend (Hamer, Fannie Lou)
Died: 1977 AD, at 59 years of age.
Nationality: American
Categories: Activists, Critics, Political Activists, Propagandists
1917 - Fannie Lou Hamer, born on the 6th of October, in Montgomery County, Mississippi. She was the granddaughter of slaves. Her family were sharecroppers - a position not that different from slavery. Hamer had 19 brothers and sisters. She was the youngest of the children.
1962 - When she was 44 years old, SNCC volunteers came to town and held a voter registration meeting. She was surprised to learn that African-Americans actually had a constitutional right to vote.
1964 - She co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). The MDFP challenged the all-white Mississippi delegation to the Democratic National Convention. She spoke in front of the Credentials Committee in a televised proceeding that reached millions of viewers.
1977 - She died on the 14th of March, at the age of 59.
| | Page last updated: 3:39pm, 02 |
