Analysis Of Fannie Lou Hamer's Leading Out In Front

1705 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women during the civil rights movement

Leading Out In Front:
A Feminist Perspective on a Civil Rights Icon Fannie Lou Hamer

“I’m fighting for Human Rights.”
– Hamer, Speaking at 1964 Democratic National Committee

“We gonna make you wish you was dead.”
– Mississippi Police to Hamer, 1963, after being falsely charged, jailed and beaten.

One of the more striking facts about the Fannie Lou Hamer story was the intense and unrelenting animosity towards her as a woman determined to make a difference. Though the decade of the 1960s was unquestionably a period of profound psychological political transformation for the individual and for the country, a person like Hamer was, nonetheless, disdained much more for her inability to behave like on oppressed victim than a willing member of …show more content…

Women in public leadership roles and positions were not very common; they were even less recognized as figures of political revolt. Rosa Parks is a vivid example of a woman who is generally recalled as a quiet and tired woman who refused to give up her seat in protests of segregation when she was actually “an agent” (Olson, 2001) for political activism. Interestingly, she is not historically depicted as a revolutionary for social justice, but as a deferential woman who served as a catalyst for a bus boycott organized by men. Hamer defied such a demure perception of herself through her speeches and through her actions. She challenged, albeit unwittingly, other women, particularly white women to recognize their “common bond” with her: “In the past, I don’t care how poor this white woman was, in the South, she still felt like she was more than us…But coming to the realization of the thing, her freedom is shackled in chains to mine, and she realized for the first time that she is not free until I am free,” (Marable & Mullings, 2009). Like King, and the other major prominent civil rights leaders of the time, Hamer was profoundly committed to the idea that the struggle to achieve equity and justice for one’s race and one’s humanity was a moral and spiritual commitment. She was fighting for something much bigger than herself; she was fighting for all people who were trapped by a system from which there had never been a clear

Show More
Related

  • Biography of Lillian Wald

    2134 Words  | 5 Pages

    ... fighting for a Jewish cause. This book carefully examines exactly how much Wald distanced herself from her Jewish heritage. Marjorie N. Feld did a wonderful job of portraying Wald as not only a strong, independent woman, but firm in her belief of universalism not particularism. Although the book is written in a highly academic format Feld was able to give the story of Lillian Wald in a matter that allows all who read it to appreciate and understand her work. Wald is the kind of woman all people should hope to meet in their life. After a few pages readers will find themselves intrigued at how well the book was written, Feld inserts quotations from Wald herself that quickly and concisely show the kind of woman she was. This book should be read by anyone who has an interest in the progressive era, women’s rights, or simply the rights of all the world’s diverse people.

    Read More

  • Fannie Lou Hamer and Malcolm X

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fannie Lou Hamer and Malcolm X, like most civil rights activists, were exposed to the horrors of racism on a daily basis. These two leaders in particular, recognized a recurring theme of conscious oppression of Black Americans on the part of white Americans and identified the ways in which the “dominant” social group benefited from such oppression. Fannie Lou Hamer’s experience sharecropping and within the justice system helped her to develop an ideology of civil rights that centered on the empowerment of Black Americans. When Hamer was six years old the owner of the plantation on which her family lived and worked encouraged her to pick cotton. Making it seem like a game or challenge, the owner offered her a reward of food, knowing that the young girl was going hungry as a result of the limited amount of food he supplied to her family. Just like that, Hamer was tricked into picking cotton to earn minimal rewards.2 This anecdote from her life parallels the struggle of many sharecroppers at the time. Released from slavery, Black me...

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Emmeline Pankhurst And Rosa Parks

    525 Words  | 2 Pages

    A lot of women from history have a great influence on our lives today. Two of these women were Emmeline Pankhurst and Rosa Parks. They both stood up for themselves and their cause no matter how hard it got for them. They faced numerous struggles along the way but that didn’t stop them, in fact, it made them even stronger. They both accomplished magnificent things during their lifetime and they are still remembered for those things. Although they are both similar in that they fought for what they believed in, they differ in terms of what they fought for and how they fought it.

    Read More

  • Women in the Twentieth Century

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the success of antislavery movement in the early nineteenth century, activist women in the United States took another step toward claiming themselves a voice in politics. They were known as the suffragists. It took those women a lot of efforts and some decades to seek for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. In her essay “The Next Generation of Suffragists: Harriot Stanton Blatch and Grassroots Politics,” Ellen Carol Dubois notes some hardships American suffragists faced in order to achieve the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Along with that essay, the film Iron-Jawed Angels somehow helps to paint a vivid image of the obstacles in the fight for women’s suffrage. In the essay “Gender at Work: The Sexual Division of Labor during World War II,” Ruth Milkman highlights the segregation between men and women at works during wartime some decades after the success of women suffrage movement. Similarly, women in the Glamour Girls of 1943 were segregated by men that they could only do the jobs temporarily and would not able to go back to work once the war over. In other words, many American women did help to claim themselves a voice by voting and giving hands in World War II but they were not fully great enough to change the public eyes about women.

    Read More

  • The Sixties, by Terry H. Anderson

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...War and the Civil Rights Movements in order to illustrate how the 1960s was a time of “tumult and change.” To Anderson, it is these events, which sparked the demand for recognition of social and economic fairness. He makes prominent the idea that the 1960s served as the origin of activism and the birth of the civil rights movement, forever changing ideals that embody America. The book overall is comprehensive and a definite attention grabber. It shows how the decade had the effect of drastically transforming life in America and challenging the unequal status quo that has characterized most of the nation's history. Despite the violence and conflict that was provoked by these changes, the activism and the liberation movements that took place have left a permanent imprint upon the country.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Sacrifice In The Crucible

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    She was an influential African-American woman fighting for equal rights for woman and for African-Americans. She took part in two of the most controversial movements in recent history. Taking on these movements put her in a very big red zone, and constantly was being frowned upon by all people against these movements. Ms. Parks’ big story was when she sat in the front of the bus and was told, by a white male, to get up and sit in the back of the bus. She refused and was now a target from many people against the movements she stood for. Rosa Parks preached “Each person must live their life as a model for others.” She is showing her side saying that all men and woman no matter the color of their skin need to get together and grow from each other as models to improve ones’ self. Rosa and her followers all could agree that these rights, they fought for, were strong enough to fight for, no matter if their death came as a result. They went out and fought harder because they were sought after so much and were frowned upon. This proves Hales original statement is

    Read More

  • The Movements of the New Left by Van Gosse

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most influential leaders of the African American Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr., stated in a letter from Birmingham Jail: “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights.they were in reality standing up for what is best the American dream”(75). In the document written by Casey Hayden and Mary King, they discuss how there are many similarities between the way African Americans were being treated and the way women were being treated. These women go on to say that people aren’t discussing these issues enough socially to give them adequate importance. All of these advocates for both movements chose to voice their concerns and opinions through writing or speaking to groups rather than through violence. They were parallel in this sense because they thought this was the most effective way to get the message across to America.

    Read More

  • The Counterculture

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although the sixties were a decade in which the United States became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country, in some ways it became less of these things. During the sixties, America intervened in other nations and efforts were made to stop the progress of the civil rights movement. Because of America’s foreign policy and Americans fight against the civil rights movement, it is clear that the sixties in America were not purely a decade of openness, tolerance, and freedom in the United States.

    Read More

  • Iron Jawed Angels Essay

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the first encounters that supports the feminist movement of lack of involvement of “black” women, is when Ida B. Wells, a African American woman, arrived at Alice’s office to confront her on the idea of “black” women marching at the back of the women march. Alice proclaimed, “the suffrage women will withdraw from the campaign if negro women marched with the same ranks.“ Ida’s response, “who is we? women or just “white” women?” Incidentially this created a uncomfortable feeling of

    Read More

  • The 1960’s: Decade of Disillusionment

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    The 1960’s and early 1970’s were a time that eternally changed the culture and humanity of America. It was a time widely known for peace and love when in reality; many minorities were struggling to gain a modicum of equality and freedom. It was a time, in which a younger generation rebelled against the conventional norms, questioning power and government, and insisting on more freedoms for minorities. In addition, an enormous movement began rising in opposition to the Vietnam War. It was a time of brutal altercations, with the civil rights movement and the youth culture demanding equality and the war in Vietnam put public loyalty to the test. Countless African-Americans, Native-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, women, and college students became frustrated, angry, and disillusioned by the turmoil around them.

    Read More

  • Essay On Sojourner Truth

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the early 1900’s, women and slaves in the United States were fighting for their freedom in society. These brave slaves and women stood up against the laws of that time to earn their rights. Many of these activists became well known during this time, and now in textbooks. One woman stood up for the rights of both women and people of color, Sojourner Truth was born into slavery and escaped after the fight for abolitionism had begun. Sojourner had seen the hardships of being a woman and a slave in her long life. Experiencing prejudice from being a slave and a woman, Sojourner Truth spoke out with enthusiastic speeches on woman rights and slavery in conventions

    Read More

  • Social Injustice In Rosa Parks

    383 Words  | 1 Pages

    would not give up her seat to a white person, is a prime example of social injustice. Rosa had

    Read More

  • Montgomery Bus Boycotts: Role of Women in the Civil Rights Movement

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 60's, women played an undeniably significant role in forging the path against discrimination and oppression. Rosa Parks and Jo Ann Robinson were individual women whose efforts deserve recognition for instigating and coordinating the Montgomery Bus Boycotts of 1955 that would lay precedent for years to come that all people deserved equal treatment despite the color of their skin. The WPC, NAACP, and the Montgomery Churches provided the channels to organize the black public into a group that could not be ignored as well supported the black community throughout the difficult time of the boycott.

    Read More

  • The Role of African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement

    2574 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...rica? Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party." Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965. By Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne. Rouse, and Barbara Woods. Vol. 16. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Pub., 1990. 27-37. Print.

    Read More

  • Essay About Iron Jawed Angels

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    At one of Paul’s demonstrations in DC, they are speaking to women factory workers who are not aware that they should be able to vote for something like having a fire exit in the factory. Gaining the support from working class women was very important to the movement because these women are at the brunt of society’s negative views and are most affected by the societal hardships. Paul’s feminist movement received additional support from Ida B. Wells, an African American women rights activist, as long as they were allowed to march with the white women, not behind them. Although this minute aspect of the movie did not thoroughly discuss the racist issues also present at the time, it made me think about Sojourner Truth’s speech ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ Representation from all races and social classes is imperative in the fight for women’s equality because African American women are women too, color does not matter.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Fannie Lou Hamer's Leading Out In Front

Open Document