|
|
Essay by: Ben
When Fannie Lou Hamer intrepidly stated that she was “sick and tired of
being sick and tired,” she was not merely expressing the angst of a difficult
and arduous life. Rather, she was exemplifying the movement that defined the
second half of the American Century. Stepping forth from the oppression under
which she toiled for most of her life, Hamer dedicated herself to ensuring, through
democracy, that the vicious cycle of poverty and lack of civil rights to which
she was born would cease. In the United States, a common dream has persisted
from the first colonial settlers to the multicultural populace of today; this
dream is of self-betterment through autonomy. By working to ensure voting rights
for everyone, Hamer’s work promoted individual sovereignty, empowering
people to end the brutal system of African American treatment in the south. Though
she gained only temporary acclaim for addressing the 1964 Democratic National
Convention’s Credentials Committee with the attention of President Lyndon
Johnson, Hamer’s noble endeavor is worthy of much greater public knowledge.
Her participation in that convention was in order to protest the all-white delegation
from Mississippi. After a speech in which the questioned America for her organization
not being seated, Hamer brought the struggle to guarantee the rights of the Fourteenth
Amendment to the forefront. Because earlier in her life she had been unaware
that African Americans had the right to vote, she brought an understanding of
the issue that she was able to communicate through song and speech. Consequently,
people throughout the South can thank Hamer’s campaigns—for both
civil rights and a seat in Congress—for being able to realize their right
to vote. While a great deal of other notable African American political leaders
and civil rights activists worked exclusively to end segregation, Fannie Lou
Hamer sought to allow people the greatest civil right and responsibility—voting.
Through doing so, she wished to give African Americans a means by which to control
their own lives, and thus prevent future generations from experiencing the brutality,
economic hardships, and lack of support she had endured. Her message was clear.
And. when she stepped forth at that convention on behalf of the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party and affirmed that they “didn’t come all this way
for no two seats,” she took a vow to never step down from her role as matriarch
of the African American south. She may have been sick and tired, but without
the passion her weariness gave her, the right to vote movement would failed to
expand civil liberties because of the lack of momentum and direction.
<< Previous Page
|
