by Kay Mills 
She was just an ordinary housewife living in Ruleville , Mississippi when she attended a meeting at Williams Chapel Church in 1962. After the sermon, a young man stepped up on the podium and urged the black parishioners to register to vote. This was a very dangerous thing to do, but Fannie was one of the few that raised her hand to do it. When she registered, the plantation owner kicked her out of her home. She had to leave her family behind.
Testifying before the Democratic convention
Once set on the path to fight for freedom and equality, she never looked back. A devout Christian, she often kept everyone’s courage up by belting out hymns like “Amazing Grace” or “His Eye is On the Sparrow” and her special favorite, “This Little Light of Mine”! Once she was severely beaten and left in a cell without medical treatment, yet Fannie never wavered. She devoted herself to helping the poor blacks in the South to find housing and food as well as to register everyone to vote. 
Fannie Lou Hamer was black, poor, a woman and uneducated…but she impacted history and played a central role in the civil rights movement in America. She testified before the Democratic Convention in 1964n, protesting that the all white delegation did not truly represent the Mississippi constituency. Creating the Freedom Party, she ran for the State senate but was defeated. But just the fact that black candidates were put on the roster was an amazing feat in itself. 
I’m very glad that I read this book and got to know more about this very brave woman who inspires us to stand up for our principles even if it means personal loss.
book-klatsch 