A few days ago I mentioned on my Twitter feed that I was enjoying a new biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, one of my heroes. I was surprised to hear almost immediately from my former student here at Southern Seminary, Regina Gibson, who now serves with LifeWay Christian Resources as a specialist for ministry to young adult women.
It turns out, Mrs. Hamer was Regina’s great aunt. Regina didn’t know she was famous, just that she meant a lot to her family. Regina’s aunt is famous, all right–but not as famous as she should be. You can read Regina’s thoughts on Mrs. Hamer here.
Fannie Lou Hamer is a name all Christians should know. She was a civil rights activist in Ruleville, Mississippi, in Sunflower County. Her name is not as celebrated as some other, more famous, figures in the civil rights movement, but it should be. She was a committed Christian who believed the Bible taught the dignity of all those made in the image of God, and she suffered much for it. She is the one who said so memorably that she was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
She also understood that she wrestled not against flesh and blood so she refused to hate her enemies, even those who with their sneering white supremacy were quite easy to hate.
She took on the Democratic Party establishment, right up to Lyndon Johnson himself, over the seating of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, and she taught Hubert Humphrey about the kingdom of God.
The book I mentioned is Chris Myers Asch’s new work, The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggle of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer (New Press). Regina also links to a wonderful audio clip of Mrs. Hamer’s testimony before the DNC credentials committee in Atlantic City.
Also, here is an article from several years ago that I wrote for my hometown newspaper, the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald calling for a new “Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party,” one that would recognize the personhood of the unborn and that, like Mrs. Hamer’s group, wouldn’t care what the party bosses think about it.
Get to know Fannie Lou Hamer, and pray for courage and sweetness like hers, for all of us. And, while you’re at it, read this excellent article by Mrs. Hamer’s great-niece. It’s a biblical call for racial equality, printed by the publishing house of a denomination founded by slaveholders. I think Mrs. Hamer would be proud, even as she would remind us there’s a long, long way to go.
