Annotation#5

Rubel, David: Fannie Lou Hamer: From Sharecropping to Politics.

This biography is for the younger viewers, as they look closer into the life of Fannie lou Hamer (one of the first black organizers of voter registration in Mississippi). The book is an overview of the civil rights movement while describing in full detail her life in Mississippi. Fannie lou Hamer's book also explains her involvement in voter rights in 1962 at the age of 45, and her efforts as a civil rights activist during the remaining 15 years of her life. Highlights include the following: (1) childhood as the twentieth child of sharecropper parents; (2) young and middle adulthood as a plantation worker; (3) successful registration to vote, after two earlier attempts, in 1963; (4) work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); (5) membership in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP); (6) testimony before the Democratic National Convention in 1964; (7) receipt of a standing ovation at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, and election as a Democratic national committeewoman; (8) purchase of land for and founding of the Freedom Farm Cooperative in 1969; and (9) an unsuccessful 1971 bid for a seat in the Mississippi State Senate. The book includes a civil rights movement time line, a timetable of events in Fannie Lou Hamer's life, suggested reading, and a list of 15 sources.

This timeline/ biography of Fannie Lou Hamer is useful to my NHD project because it gives a brief summary of Fannie Lou Hamer's childhood, accomplishments, sacrafices, and overall life experiences.