I listened to the “Fannie Lou Hamer’s Fight Continues Today” podcast episode with guest speaker Keisha N. Blain. I chose this episode because I learned briefly about Fannie Lou Hamer in Landmark Speeches on Democracy and Dissent; we analyzed her speech “We’re On Our Way.” She was also mentioned in an introduction by Tom Hayden for The Port Huron Statement, which I read a couple of weeks ago. The introduction discussed how she spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Given my limited knowledge of her, I thought it would be a good idea to listen and learn more about her history and contributions. 

The first thing that stuck out to me was the story about how Fannie Lou Hamer began picking cotton at the age of six. Hamer came from a sharecropping family, but the white landowner tricked her into picking cotton for only candy. The story shows how exploitative the sharecropping system was, and I also think it highlights how difficult it was to escape. No six-year-old should have been picking cotton, but the landowner fully took advantage of Hamer to benefit himself. 

She also didn’t begin her political activism until much later in life, which I think is really inspiring. You don’t have to be confined to a certain time in your life to do what you want, but the reason why she didn’t start until later is indicative of so many black people’s experiences during that time. Since the sharecropping system was so exploitative, it limited the information sharecroppers received. Hamer wasn’t politically active because the white landowners and systems in place prevented her from learning. She only discovered the rights she should’ve had through her church. I always knew that the church played a big role in the Civil Rights Movement, but this podcast expanded my understanding of that. Before, I mostly assumed it was because the church represented faith and commitment, and it was also something that people bonded over. This is still true, but the church acted as a space for education. Hamer’s job as a sharecropper meant she was constantly working. However, she went to church. The church was a space where people always went, and it allowed people to learn and educate themselves. Hamer’s own religious beliefs also played a huge role in her activism. When she experienced hatred, violence, and racism, she was able to continue because she believed what she was doing was “divinely ordained.”  

I also enjoyed it when Blain discussed Hamer’s use of history for advancing her beliefs. People at the time would criticize Hamer by saying she wanted change too fast; there should be a more gradual approach to achieving change. Hamer counteracted this by going through history and showing all of the places where change was promised. She pointed to the Constitution and Reconstruction amendments to show that change has actually been waiting for decades. I never knew how much Hamer drew upon the Constitution, and the podcast showcased her understanding of the Constitution.  

I thought that this was an informative episode, and it definitely expanded upon the knowledge I already had.