A One-Women Play
Written and Performed by Mzuri Moyo Aimbaye
Directed by Byron C Saunders
THE MOTHER OF VOTER REGISTRATION
FROM MISSISSIPPI TO THE MOVEMENT
The Fannie Lou Hamer Story chronicles the life of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer through poetically styled storytelling. The play opens with Fannie Lou descending the stairs of heaven. Though fully prepared to abandon her earthly body, heaven’s angels plead with her to return to earth to address the senseless police killings of so many young, unarmed Black men and women. Upon her return, she appears at a political rally. Instead of hearing from a presidential candidate, Fannie Lou Hamer takes the stage and stuns the crowd with a show-stopping arrangement of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. As she sings, she calls out the names of those who have been killed by the police.
Through the compelling integration of storytelling, nostalgic songs and graphic video montage, the artist, Mzuri Moyo Aimbaye, channels the heart, soul and passion of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer and takes the audience on a riveting journey that embues accountability and inspires civic participation.
NOTE: Due to the mature topic and descriptions of violence, this program is best suited for ages 13 and up.
About Fannie Lou Hamer
Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer was born October 6, 1917, the twentieth child of James and Ella Townsend. She was raised in harsh and impoverished living conditions, sometimes going days without food. Her parents migrated from one Mississippi Delta sharecropper plantation to another. Conditions were similar to slavery as they sought higher wages in an impossible attempt to find a better quality of life. Fannie Lou Hamer became, “Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired”. She decided to use her voting power to remove officials that supported institutionally oppressive policies against fair representation.
The Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) volunteers came to town in 1962 and held a voter registration meeting. Hamer was 44 years old. She was surprised to learn that Black folk actually had a constitutional right to vote. Hamer was the first to raise her hand, when the SNCC members asked for volunteers to go to the courthouse to register to vote. “This was a dangerous decision.” She later reflected, “The only thing they could do to me was kill me, and it seemed like they’d been trying to do that a little bit at a time ever since I could remember.”
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