Women You May Not Know

annie Lou Hamer was a prominent civil rights leader and voting rights activist whose life and legacy are celebrated for her unwavering commitment to equality. Born on October 6, 1917, in Montgomery County, Mississippi, Hamer grew up in a large family of sharecroppers and endured extreme poverty and racial discrimination. She worked as a cotton picker and timekeeper, and she married in 1944. In 1961, Hamer experienced a defining moment when a white doctor forcibly sterilized her without her knowledge or consent, an act that deeply violated her and set her firmly on the path to activism. Unfortunately, forced sterilization was a common injustice done to women of color in Mississippi in the 1960s. This injustice, combined with attending a meeting organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), where she learned more about the struggle for voting equality, spurred her to action.

Hamer quickly rose to become a field secretary for SNCC, leading voter registration drives across the South. Despite facing violent retaliation, including a brutal police beating in 1963 that left her with permanent injuries, Hamer continued her activism with resilience. Her powerful speech at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, where she described the daily threats and violence she faced, helped draw national attention to the struggles for Black voting rights. Although her efforts did not immediately secure her Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party a seat at the convention, her advocacy contributed to the eventual passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which dismantled many barriers to Black voter registration.

Beyond her work for voting rights, Hamer was also committed to supporting maternal and child health and advocated for better opportunities for young Black mothers and unborn children. Unlike some feminists in her time, she was fiercely pro-life. She described abortion as “genocide” and “legal murder.” She also famously helped one young mother in her community pursue higher education, supporting her through her pregnancy and empowering her to go to college. She said in defense of single black mothers, “I think these children have a right to live. And I think these mothers have a right to support them in a decent way. We are dealing with human beings.”

Hamer’s famous words, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free,” encapsulated her inclusive vision for America. Her life’s work not only advanced civil rights but also left a lasting impact on the broader struggle for racial justice and the pro-life movement in the United States.

By: Bella Fechter