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Voting Rights And Our Fannie Lou Hamer Project

Fannie Lou Hamer by Julius Lester
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Our new project is an artwork for the exhibition Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices, Women’s Rights, which will premiere September 2020 at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. The curators, Allida Black and Allison Wilbur, asked us if we were willing to do a piece about Fannie Lou Hamer. Born black, poor, and uneducated in Mississippi, Mrs. Hamer went on to fight for the voting rights of her fellow black Mississippians, even testifying at the 1964 Democratic Convention.

The Photo

We quickly decided we wanted to create another portrait. After working on another voting rights advocate, Katharine McCormick, we thought it would be an interesting challenge to create something that would not only stand on its own but serve as an interesting counterpoint to the McCormick piece. There are many well-known and evocative photos of Mrs. Hamer (everyone called her Mrs. Hamer), but we were looking for one in which she is looking directly into the camera.

Fannie Lou Hamer four images

 

The Photographer

When we saw the photo below, we liked that Mrs. Hamer was looking into the camera . . . with attitude. Julius Lester, who was a staff photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at the time, took this photo of Mrs. Hamer in her home in Ruleville, Mississippi. Lester captured her determination and her indefatigability, even though she was quoted as saying, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” We want to thank the Julius Lester Estate for granting us copyright permission to use this image as the basis for our piece.

 

Fannie Lou Hamer by Julius Lester

 

The Hair

The only thing missing in the photo is her hair. Yes, you can see her hair, but Mrs. Hamer really liked having a good hairdo (just look at how nicely coiffed she is in the other photos above), so we thought we’d just give her one of her other hairdos. With the cartoon done and printed, we started making our text collage today. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Deb gluing Fannie Lou Hamer collage

6 responses to “Voting Rights And Our Fannie Lou Hamer Project”

  1. Oh wow, what a powerful project. I love that you recognize Mrs. Hamer’s right to be memorialized with Good Hair! You two are the best.

    • Thanks, Sherry. We read her biography, and it was clearly stated that she liked her hair done. And you can tell that she usually had it done, but this was just such a powerful image for us, that we wanted that look.

  2. I ❤️ All your hard work. Thank you for being there and doing all that you’ve done.

    I am interested in obtaining a fabric print of FANNIE LOU HAMMER.

    Please let me know if I can order it.

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