The Life and Times of Fannie Lou Hamer
“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” These famous words uttered by Mississippi sharecropper Fannie Lou Hamer, explains her persistence in her efforts to become what she called, “a first-class citizen”. Thus, when the Freedom Riders came to Sunflower County, Mississippi Fannie Lou Hamer was among the first black persons to attempt to register to vote. She was one of two allowed to take the literary test which she failed. Upon her return home, she was fired from her job on the plantation. Shots fired into the house where she was thought to be staying. Things grew more difficult as local sheriffs and their deputies beat her and threatened to kill her. But she was steadfast in her determination. “Killing or no killing, I am staying with civil rights”. Today she is recognized as one of the most important leaders in the civil rights movement. The Life and Times of Fannie Lou Hamer is her story.
Review of The Life and Times of Fannie Lou Hamer
Few companies can be relied on to provide such thought-provoking dramas, shows that will have audience members pondering and arguing weeks after the curtain has come down. So, after an election year in which less than 60 percent of registered voters in the United States cast ballots, it’s a vital reminder that for the majority in this country, voting is a hard-won symbol of freedom that should never be ignored or taken lightly.—Leslie Mizell, News and Record
4 actors, 45 minutes • Suitable for Middle and High Schoolers
What is The Civil Rights Movement?
American civil rights movement, mass protest movement against racial segregation and discrimination in the southern United States that came to national prominence during the mid-1950s. This movement had its roots in the centuries-long efforts of enslaved Africans and their descendants to resist racial oppression and abolish the institution of slavery. Although enslaved people were emancipated as a result of the American Civil War and were then granted basic civil rights through the passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, struggles to secure federal protection of these rights continued during the next century. Through nonviolent protest, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s broke the pattern of public facilities’ being segregated by “race” in the South and achieved the most important breakthrough in equal-rights legislation for African Americans since the Reconstruction period (1865–77). Although the passage in 1964 and 1965 of major civil rights legislation was victorious for the movement, by then militant Black activists had begun to see their struggle as a freedom or liberation movement not just seeking civil rights reforms but instead confronting the enduring economic, political, and cultural consequences of past racial oppression.
*View The Civil Rights Timeline, from history.com
An African American woman, who demonstrated the power of the black woman, during the civil rights movement, Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer. Born in Montgomery County, Montgomery and spent most of her early life as a cotton picker. However, as she grew older, her involvement in politics became greater. For instance, Hamer was involved with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, in 1962, which led her into enforcing voting drives and relief efforts. Later, in 1964, she co-founded, and ran for Congress as a member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, bringing attention to that year’s Democratic convention. Hamer organized the Freedom Summer organization, which brought both white and black college students together to enforce voter registration for African Americans throughout the south. In 1964, she announced her candidacy for the Mississippi House of Representatives, yet she was barred from the ballot. On the other hand, Hamer continued her activism through declining health, until her death in 1977.
Touring Theatre of North Carolina Educational Podcast Series
The Life and Times of Fannie Lou Hamer
Video Clip from Fannie Lou Hamer
Cost
Within Guilford County
Outside of Guilford County
Production Process
- Production sets are minimal and require no special equipment from schools for set-up or break-down
- Actors set up and break down the minimal production sets
- Performances can be held in classrooms, auditoriums, multipurpose rooms, cafeterias and theatres
- The company prefers no more than 300 students in the audience
- The company’s Production Manager, Kay Thomas will work with schools to schedule performances
- The performers will need the use of a dressing room or bathroom in order to change in to costumes
- Elementary school productions are 35 minutes in length and middle and high school productions are 45 minutes in length
Study Guides, Workshops & Residencies
Comprehensive study guides accompany all productions. The guides are designed to help teachers prepare the students for that particular show and they include a pre and post-testing tool. Specific exercises are developed that demonstrate clear linkage between the productions content and Guilford County Schools Common Core Curriculum. Workshops and Residencies have been created for each production and are available at an additional cost.
To Book a Performance
Email the Production Coordinator, Kay Thomas, at kay@ttnc.org or call 336.337.4925
Performance Review
It’s not always easy to watch productions by the Touring Theatre Ensemble of North Carolina. The troupe often tells stories that simply need to be told, and it can be difficult to bear witness to these tales of injustice, hardship, and perseverance. Few companies, however, can be relied on to provide such thought-provoking dramas, shows that will have audience members pondering and arguing weeks after the curtain has come down. “The Life and Times of Fannie Lou Hamer” is the story of a Mississippi sharecropper who rose to national prominence as a civil rights activist dedicated, among other causes, to register black voters. In her mid-forties when the first Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee members spoke at her church – which was the first time she realized she even had the right to vote – she eventually ran for Congress and spoke at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. The drama is informative and entertaining,
As is standard with the ensemble’s productions, “Fannie Lou Hamer” is presented on a bare stage with minimal props, which in no way impedes its storytelling power. Nicely interspersed through the story is a series of spirituals and freedom songs well sung by the cast and any audience member who cares to join. Brenda Schleunes culled the story from texts, transcripts, and other records of Hamer’s life. Her script is sometimes poetic (“with sore hands and numb souls”) but is basically as down-to-earth as Hamer herself. “She did good work” is the eulogy one character gives Hamer. And isn’t that the best any of us could hope would be said of us?