

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
Fall 2015 Non-FictionFannie Lou Hamer may not be a household name, but she should be. This remarkable woman, "The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement," is unlikely to be forgotten by anyone who reads Carole Boston Weatherford's vivid "first person" account of Hamer's eventful and courageous life, reflected in the bold strength of artist Ekua Holmes' collage-on-paper illustrations, as Weatherford unspools Hamer's story in segments ("Delta Blues," "My Mother Taught Me," "The Price of Freedom," "Injustice," "Africa," "Freedom Summer"). The daughter of impoverished sharecroppers, Hamer became a major force in the struggle against racism, inequality and disenfranchisement in the South, raising her voice (and risking her life) as she worked-and sang-for voting rights, for integration, for political representation, and for the poor.