Essay Topic:

The interpretation and profound analysis of the book describing Fannie Lou Hamer as an important figure in the fight for the rights of Afro-American women to vote.

Essay Questions:

Why is the name of Fannie Lou Hamer so important for the rights of Afro-American women to vote? Why does Kay Mills describe Fannie Hamer as an energetic woman? What is the reason the book is built in a set of interviews?

Thesis Statement:

The right that Hamer fought for were not exclusive, they were primarily the basic human rights. Without them a person cannot completely reveal himself and be a MAN.

Kay Mills' “This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer” essay

Introduction: Fannie Lou Hamer is the name that is not only worth of remembering, it is one of “those” names that became a lighthouse for millions of people all over the world. Her life is the story of a woman with the strongest spirit ever, a story of a woman that was not afraid of anything and ready to fight for the right that people deserve. In Kay Mills' “This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer”, the author shows the life and activity of this “energetic” woman through interviews with her and with her relatives and friends. Kay Mills describes Fannie Lou Hamer as a person with an “inborn intelligence, deep spirituality, strong parents, and love of country”[Mills, 6-7]. The right that Hamer fought for were not exclusive, they were primarily the basic human rights. Without them a person cannot completely reveal himself and be a MAN. To know all the hardships of the life of this black woman is to understand the reasons that influenced her views and the “driving force” of her agitation.

Fannie Lou Hamer was born in Mississippi, in a black sharecroppers' family. She was not really educated, like most of the Afro-Americans in Mississippi back in the pre-Depression times. She has always known what poverty is; she has always known that the life without rights is not a “life” in its complete meaning. Like no other person she knew that black people have the same rights along with other people and there is now reason for them to stay in poverty and ignorance. She wanted to stop the black people from being powerless. This caused her to become a fighter for civil rights in her state, which gave a great example for the whole United States. The name of Mills’ book “This little light of mine” is not casual. It is the name of the song that Fannie Hamer sang with her wonderful voice to support the black unions following her; at it was lately called an anthem of the freedom movement. Hamer was the first to speak up for the voter’s rights of the Afro-Americans in the state, which was a sensation in its very core. The Afro-Americans were prevented from voting and Hamer interrupted this “inhuman tradition”. She dedicated herself to the challenging the voting registration practices. Due to this kind of dedication she experienced several injuries and even jail, but this did not redeem the light inside her heart, as Mills emphasizes. Fannie Lou Hamer founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party with the main goal of having Afro-American representatives in 1964 at the Democratic National Convention. This was an outstandingly brave step. Through her book Mills shows deep admiration to everything that Hamer did and said. Mills describes the will and the spirit of this woman as a magnificent example of how one man can change anything if he speaks up. Her voice did not only speak up to black workers, but to white workers, too. She wanted every single person to obtain the rights he deserved form his very birth. She found the way to the hearts of million of workers that followed her in the civil rights movement. She agitated Afro-Americans to actively take part in the political process. She appealed to people with the asked not to consent to any compromise, but to keep standing till the very end and getting the right to vote and other civil rights that they have. Fannie Lou Hammer sacrificed her whole life to the struggle for civil rights. And when in 1968 she was at the presidential convection – it was an outstanding victory worth on being known, respected and remembered.

Conclusion: As a fighter for the civil rights, her name is to be put in the same line with the names of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X suffered a similar situation to Hamer in childhood, experienced his house burnt by the Klu Klux Klan and dedicated his whole life to the civil right movement. Malcolm X was pessimistic; King Jr. was more peacefully minded. All three of them believed that they could achieve equality with white people with the only difference in the means that they offered. Fannie Lou Hamer was the first black woman who achieved success in the struggle for the Afro-Americans voting. This victory was achieved through a long fight and even death threats. Nevertheless, she always had her head up, looking proudly for being black and proving to be equal to any white person.