2008 Student Essays - Ohio Winner

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Fannie Lou Hamer, “Sick and tired of being sick and tired”
by Julius Clark
St. Martin de Porres High School
Cleveland, Ohio

What does it mean to be “sick and tired of being sick and tired?” What Fannie Lou Hamer meant was that she was fed up with the way her culture was being mistreated and deprived of their rights.  With courage and determination on her side, she knew that it was time to take a stand for the rights of African Americans in Mississippi and all over the world.

Fannie Lou Hamer first demonstrated her feelings and aggression when she, along with 17 others, boarded a bus to Indianola to register to vote. She failed at this at first, but after a few tries, she achieved this personal goal. Realizing how unique this made her, Ms. Hamer then adopted a new, larger goal of making sure that all African Americans were truly free to vote without fear or persecution. In order to accomplish this goal, Fannie Lou Hamer faced horrific beatings, death threats and was even kicked out of her own home. At the 1964 Democratic Convention, she joined the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, demanding that white citizens respect the full rights of blacks. She said, “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 the hooks because our lives [are] threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?”By this effort,her goal was realized.

Fannie Lou Hamer was fearless, and that is why African Americans are able to vote today. While she was going through this battle for African Americans’ voting rights she had the impression that “the only thing they could do to me was kill me, and itseemed like they’d been trying to do that a little bit at a time every since I could remember.” These are the words of a relentless, strong woman who would let nothing get in the way of what she was trying to accomplish.

Fannie Lou Hamer is truly inspiring because she is one of the most underappreciated women in history who did not seek the attention and respect she deserved. Being the co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party is just one of her achievements. In truth, she was so much more than that. She was a pioneer for equal rights being granted in America.