GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP — Civil and voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer revolutionized activism to end injustices against African Americans, author Kiesha N. Blain told Stockton University students during a symposium Tuesday.
The 19th annual Fannie Lou Hamer Human and Civil Rights Symposium was held in the university’s Performing Arts Center. Blain, author of “Set the World on Fire: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America,” encouraged students to explore the breadth of Hamer’s activism, saying she’s well known but not deeply understood.
“Everybody uses the quote now, ‘Nobody’s free until everybody’s free,’” Blain said. “But not a lot of people can tell you that that came from Fannie Lou Hamer. Her fight for freedom was intersectional and excluded nobody.”
Blain said Hamer’s fighting spirit was ignited by a trip to Guinea she took in 1964 with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, having been invited by then-President Ahmed Sekou Toure.
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“He wanted to motivate them after they faced some setbacks,” Blain said.
When they met with Toure, Hamer and the SNCC learned many of the issues facing Black people in the U.S. were present in Africa as well. The 1964 meeting, Blain said, helped transform Hamer’s leadership.
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That same year, Hamer traveled to Atlantic City to attend the Democratic National Convention, held at what is now Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. There, she argued for the seating of Black delegates from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and famously uttered the line, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Hamer went on to tackle global struggles in the 1970s. She was a part of an effort to boycott Gulf for its oil operations in Angola and openly denounced the Vietnam War.
She continued her work until her death in 1977.
“By linking local and national concerns, Hamer set a precedent for future generations of Black activists,” Blain said.
Patricia Reid-Merritt, professor of social work and Africana studies at Stockton, said Hamer’s appearance at the 1964 convention was the impetus for the Stockton symposium, which began in 2004.
“We were asked by the state of New Jersey’s office of African-American history as well as the secretary of the state to host an event that celebrates the 40th anniversary of Fannie Lou Hamer’s historic speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1964,” Reid-Merritt said.
“They picked us because we were the closest four-year institution, and we said yes. ... From that moment on, we said that we would become known as the school that celebrates the legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer.”
Stockton also has named an event room for Hamer on its Atlantic City campus.
Apart from Blain’s keynote speech, the symposium included a panel discussion, an interpretive-dance tribute to Hamer by student Khaia Hall, music by professor Beverly Vaughn and her Freedom Singers and a short clip of Aunjanue Ellis reciting Hamer’s 1964 speech to the DNC.
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