Fannie Lou Hamer Poem by Charmaine Forde

"One day I know the struggle will change. There's got to be a change—not only for Mississippi, not only for the people in the United States, but people all over the world."
—Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer was born on October 6,1917,
Fannie Lou Hamer was born in Mississippi,
She worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Youngest of twenty,
She helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
Fannie started working at 6 years old
Her parents were sharecroppers
That's what I was told.

Threatened, arrested, beaten, and shot
Mrs. Hamer wasn't giving up, no she was not,
Severely injured in 1963, many years after an unknown hysterectomy
She suffered permanent kidney damage, while in a Mississippi cell,
In 1976, she was diagnosed with Breast cancer as well.

On March 17th,1977, she died in Mount Bayou, Mississippi,
Andrew Young, US Delegate to the UN gave the eulogy.
After two decades of hard work, Fannie Lou Hamer was fired,
On Fannie's gravestone read:
"I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.'