The 2006 CRC Trip Day 2 - May 28th
Tom Bennett

Fannie Lou Hamer

On our visit to Sunflower County in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, we traveled to the small town of Ruleville.  The area is part of what was once called “the most Southern place on earth”, noted for a pattern of segregation so thoroughly entrenched in all aspects of daily life, that many believed change was impossible.  This was the home of civil rights legend Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, who worked on a nearby cotton plantation.  An ordinary person who rose to fame and greatness in her determination to be treated with dignity and respect, Mrs. Hamer is considered to be one of the foremost figures of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi.

During lunch at the Fannie Lou Hamer Recreation Center, we were joined by veteran SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) organizer and activist Charles McLaurin, who was a trusted associate of Mrs. Hamer.  Also present was Jimmy Lacy, a close relative of the civil rights icon.  I was amazed by the striking family resemblance.  Both men described the plantation system in rural Mississippi which enforced segregation and trapped African Americans in a perpetual state of poverty for a century after the Civil War.  The men shared powerful accounts about growing up in the Jim Crow era. 

Charles McLaurin told us about being sixteen years old and working for a white man who owned a store.  The man always degraded him, routinely called him “nigger” instead of addressing him by name, and the store owner and his white male friends regularly intimidated the young employee.  Charles was told never to answer the phone or to write any customer orders down on a sheet of paper.  He later realized that as an African American he was not supposed to be able to read and write, and these tasks in the store would give the impression that he was literate.  A black man with an education was perceived as a threat to the way of life in Mississippi at that time.  One day, when the owner of the store was gone, a white woman took his place in running the business while he was out.  She was busy when the phone rang and ordered Charles to answer it.  Several white men were hanging around the store at the time and knew of the instructions about the young man not answering the phone.  Charles was torn between his employer’s orders and the insistence of the white woman to do just the opposite.  In addition, she asked him to write the order down and give it to her.  As the eyes of the white men watched him with anger, he finally complied with the woman’s wishes and handed her the order, something an African American male was never supposed to do.  When he left work that day he was so frightened that he ran all the way home without stopping, fearing those men and what they might do to him.  

As Charles McLaurin was telling the story to the CRC students, it became clear that he was becoming a bit emotional about this terrifying situation he experienced as a boy.  Recalling intensely personal experiences from a time of great challenge and danger can be emotionally overpowering to many veterans of the Civil Rights struggle.  Some have a harder time than others in opening up these memories to strangers.  Over many years of accompanying CRC groups as a chaperone I have seen the depth of feeling people have about reliving these vivid experiences.  On some occasions people have broken down and wept, and such situations must be handled with care and sensitivity.  Having been a civil rights volunteer herself and working with people in various communities around the state of Mississippi at that moment in history, Senator Hoffmann has established a level of trust and created a bond with many people that continues to this day.  As Mr. McLaurin’s eyes welled up and his voice became shaky, Senator Hoffman walked over to him and put her arm around him.

“We know this is hard for you.  We thank you for a memory so painful with us.  It helps our young people  to understand better why the Freedom Struggle was so difficult.  We thank you for your courage during those difficult years,” said Senator Hoffmann.

Following our lunch and the powerful presentations we heard, the CRC students, chaperones and our two guests walked to the gravesite of Fannie Lou Hamer with its famous epitaph, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”  As we stood there reverently reflecting on the contribution of Mrs. Hamer to human freedom and dignity, Senator Hoffmann , who as a young civil rights volunteer from Syracuse University worked with Mrs. Hamer, suggested that we all pay tribute by singing “This Little Light of Mine.”  This was Fannie Lou Hamer’s signature song as she traveled, spoke, and organized around Mississippi and the nation.  It was a most fitting, special, and touching moment, and I think the spirit of Fannie Lou Hamer was smiling down on us.