Fannie Lou Hamer fought racism at 1964 Democratic National Convention
By Sophie Nieto-Munoz
Sixty years after Mississippi civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer traveled to the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City to highlight her experience with racism, the city will now be home to a historical marker commemorating Hamer’s activism.
Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way said Tuesday’s unveiling of the marker on the city’s boardwalk recognizes a “significant moment in America’s time” and will ensure visitors understand what New Jersey represented in the fight for civil rights.
“We cannot heal our nation from centuries of racism and discrimination without making this history visible so that all of us can see it and understand it plainly. Now this marker represents a quaint, even painful moment in our past with the hope that in recognizing this history, we can avoid repeating it,” said Way, the second Black woman to serve as the state’s lieutenant governor.
Fannie Lou Hamer speaking at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City on Aug. 22, 1964. (Warren K. Leffler/courtesy of the Library of Congress)
On Aug. 22, 1964, when Atlantic City hosted the Democratic Party’s convention at Boardwalk Hall, Hamer delivered a speech calling for integration, voting rights, and representation for Black people. She co-founded and represented the new Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, aiming to replace the state’s all-white delegation.
“If the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America. Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off of the hooks because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings in America?” she said.
Hamer did not succeed in replacing the white delegation that year, but it was integrated for the next convention in 1968.
“Witnessing the anguish of her testimony didn’t spark immediate change in her circumstances, but Ms. Hamer did change hearts and minds,” said Way, noting Hamer was also a delegate in 1972.
Way was joined in Atlantic City by lawmakers, civil rights activists, and Mississippi officials as the Democratic National Convention is in its second day in Chicago. Multiple speakers at this year’s convention have honored Hamer, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California).
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small said Vice President Kamala Harris’ potential to be the first Black woman elected president is representative of the progress Hamer helped achieve.
The plaque will be the first Mississippi Freedom Trail Marker located outside of Mississippi. The trail was created in 2011 to commemorate the people and places that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement, including the grocery store where lynching victim Emmett Till was accused of flirting with a white woman and the bus station where Freedom Riders were arrested for integrating public facilities.
The new marker includes a description of the events at the 1964 convention and explains Hamer’s activism throughout the Civil Rights Movement. She was arrested for sitting in the whites-only section of a bus and faced eviction from her home and violence when she attempted to register to vote. At a December 1964 New York rally speaking alongside Malcolm X about brutal beatings Black people faced in Mississippi, she delivered one of her most well-known quotes: “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Activist Roy DeBerry traveled to Atlantic City from Mississippi Tuesday for the first time since that convention six decades ago. He was a teenager at the time but said he remembers picketing outside Boardwalk Hall and sleeping outdoors because they couldn’t afford a place to stay. Hamer left the convention hall to encourage them to keep fighting and sing songs, DeBerry said.
Dave Dennis, also a member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party who spoke on the boardwalk Tuesday, recalled his friendship with Hamer and other civil rights activists whom he said took “bullets for democracy.” Dennis urged people to fight legislation aimed at preventing communities of color from voting and to continue teaching America’s history of racism and segregation.
“Make doggone sure that none of that legislation passes, make sure the changes open up the doors for our children to be able to know these histories and be able to exercise their right to vote,” Dennis said.
Credit: New Jersey Monitor
