Walk with Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer

by Kate Clifford Larson

She was born the 20th child in a family that had lived in the Mississippi Delta for generations, first as enslaved people and then as sharecroppers. She left school at 12 to pick cotton, as those before her had done, in a world in which white supremacy was an unassailable citadel. She was subjected without her consent to an operation that deprived her of children. And she was denied the most basic of all rights in AmericaDLthe right to cast a ballotDLin a state in which Blacks constituted nearly half the population.And so Fannie Lou Hamer lifted up her voice. Starting in the early 1960s and until her death in 1977, she was an irresistible force, not merely joining the swelling wave of change brought by civil rights but keeping it in motion. Working with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which recruited her to help with voter-registration drives, Hamer became a community organizer, women's rights activist, and co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She summoned and used what she had against the citadelDLher anger, her courage, her faith in the Bible, and her conviction that hearts could be won over and injustice overcome. She used her brutal beating at the hands of Mississippi police, an ordeal from which she never fully recovered, as the basis of a televised speech at the 1964 Democratic Convention, a speech that the mainstream partyDLincluding its standard-bearer, President Lyndon JohnsonDLtried to contain. But Fannie Lou Hamer would not be held back. For those whose lives she touched and transformed, for those who heard and followed her voice, she was the embodiment of protest, perseverance, and, most of all, the potential for revolutionary change.Kate Clifford Larson's biography of Fannie Lou Hamer is the most complete ever written, drawing on recently declassified sources on both Hamer and the civil rights movement, including unredacted FBI and Department of Justice files. It also makes full use of interviews with Civil Rights activists conducted by the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress, and Democratic National Committee archives, in addition to extensive conversations with Hamer's family and with those with whom she worked most closely. Stirring, immersive, and authoritative, Walk with Me does justice to Fannie Lou Hamer's life, capturing in full the spirit, and the voice, that led the fight for freedom and equality in America at its critical moment.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Social Justice, Race, Activism

330 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2021

About the author

Kate Clifford Larson is a bestselling author of critically acclaimed biographies including Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero and Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter. Her latest work, Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer tells the remarkable story of one of America's most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century. Praised for her research and insights as a biographer, Larson digs deep into Hamer’s history, uncovering her family roots, personal life, and reclaims Hamer’s faith as a centerpiece of her survival and appeal. Larson accessed recently opened FBI records, secret Oval Office tapes, new interviews, and more, to reveal never before seen details about Hamer’s life. An award-winning consultant for feature film scripts, documentaries, museum exhibits, and public history initiatives, Larson is frequently interviewed by national and international media outlets. Dr. Larson is a Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center Visiting Scholar.

Reviews

[Kate Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hamer is still very much an inspiration to all of us in the trenches fighting for voting rights across the country today. This biography has new interviews and sources-- even if you know a lot about Hamer and the movement, you will want to read it. What she faced fills me with grief and yet makes me know that we cannot give up the fight. I will be carrying this book with me in the back of my mind in my own work. Thank you, Ms. Larson.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another book that took me two months to read. I have to be honest: I could only handle so much of it at a time. The brutality endured by Fannie Lou Hamer and other civil rights activists as they tried to exercise their right to vote was horrific.

Hamer was the child of sharecroppers in rural Mississippi. She was not well-educated and seems an unlikely figure to have become a leader in the civil rights movement. Yet, she was active in several organizations, like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (the NAACP did not want her, as they preferred well-spoken men to represent their cause), and helped found Freedom Schools to teach Black people what they needed to know in order to complete voter registration.

Hamer was one of the Freedom Riders as well; she was arrested, beaten, and raped in one small town simply for getting off a bus at one of the stations to ask why white police officers were detaining Black people who wanted to use a theoretically integrated restaurant. The book does not shy away from the horrific events experienced by Hamer and others. Losing one's livelihood was the least of one's worries; several of her friends lost their lives.

She was not universally loved, even in the movement, but she was relentless. Even as she became seriously ill with the breast cancer that eventually claimed her life, she continued her work. She was instrumental in the eventual integration of electoral college delegations from Mississippi and other states in the deep South, among other accomplishments.

This biography is an important, if sometimes painful, read. Highly recommended.

[Bob Peterson]

Walk with Me is a detailed look at the trials and tribulations -- and massive successes of a key figure in the 1960's Civil Rights movement. The detailed descriptions of the terror brought down on Fannie and many other Civil Rights activists in Mississippi during the 1960s, are difficult to read. But they are essential to learn and to connect to the current attempts by dozens of state legislatures to suppress voting rights.

I had the good fortune to meet Fannie Lou Hamer several times, as she traveled to Madison Wisconsin for medical care after her brutal beating in Winona MS in 1963. I remembered her as a very charismatic leader who taught through stories and repeatedly said "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired."

I was a leader of the Madison Young World Development group that was associated with the American Freedom from Hunger Foundation. We did 26 mile walks, getting pledges per mile and gave funds to domestic and international projects to fight the root causes of hunger. In Madison alone we raised tens of thousands of dollars in our annual walks, and a large portion of that went to support the Freedom Farm Coop that Fannie and her family and colleagues created. As a junior in high school I traveled south from Madison hauling clothing and books to Fannie and the coop. The book brought back stark memories -- I'll leave it that. I highly recommend the book. It's more relevant now than ever.

[Tamyka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will review later but overall a great comprehensive well rounded biography about an amazing woman.

[Karen Ashmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an important book! People who don’t vote, people who register others to vote, and people who want to learn more about the role of Black women in the civil rights movement should read this book.

Sometimes the story is painful but it is important for both Black and white people to be aware of the torture, terror, murders and rape that Black people endured in their fight for voting rights.

It is also a good history lesson to learn the difference between the various civil rights organizations such as NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, CORE, MFDP, and COFO. I was a member of SCLC and the songs Fannie Lou sang brought back memories of my activism in the civil rights movement. “We Shall Overcome”, “This LittleLight of Mine”, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round”, “We Shall Not Be Moved” are some of my favorites.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larson’s fine biography of the inspiring Fannie Lou Hamer is a must-read for anyone interested in the civil rights movement. It is also a vital reminder of the power of grassroots organizing to effect change.

[Susanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an oddly unattractive book with narrow margins and lots of dense text: I kept thinking what an injustice it was that such an important book was not given a more inviting format. The text tells a truly ugly story of the abuse Hamer endured during my own lifetime, trying to register to vote in Mississippi in the 1960's. I read this for a book group and am glad I did -- but found it a horrifying read that required patience and a strong stomach.

[Jennifer-L-R · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book. I learned a ton about Fannie Lou Hamer, as well as others like Bob Moses. The fissures between sncc and the sclc and the naacp were also discussed. It was pretty brutal and difficult but super important to understand the lives of Black people in Mississippi in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Lots of moments where, as an organizer, I was amazed at the risks taken and strategy employed.

[Suzann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had actually never heard of Fannie Lou Hamer before. I was not quite prepared for the poignant education I would receive in this book. The author demonstrates a talent for being accessibly academic. I learned a lot about the wider civil rights movement, such as the fact that not all civil rights leaders favored Martin Luther King Jr.‘s tactics.

[Chris Breitenbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid, workmanlike biography of Fannie Loue Hamer that offers an efficient overview of the Civil Rights pioneer and her remarkable, all too brief life. I read about 30 pages each night before bed, amazed by her conscience, her courage and turning to YouTube several times so I could listen to her singing or witness her powerful speeches.

[Precious · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Fannie Lou wasn’t just a voting rights activist—she was a force of divine truth, a sharecropper-turned-leader who risked everything to demand justice in Mississippi and beyond. She walked in the face of beatings, forced sterilization, and systemic silencing—and still sang, still stood.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone needs to know the story of Fannie Lou Hamer. I had heard her name before, but couldn't tell you anything about her. Through reading this book, I have not only learned about her, but also about Ella Baker, Bob Moses, Lawrence Guyot, SNNC, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, SCLC, and countless other activists and organizations. These are true Americans who fought for their right to be treated as first class citizens.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at at Fannie Lou Hammer’s turbulent life from sharecroppers’ daughter and fighting for rights in Mississippi. Often a losing battle.

[Sugarpuss O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this as a dual biography: One of Fannie Lou Hamer; the other of SNCC. Both were fascinating. While the book drags down a bit with all behind the scenes machinations of these alphabet soup named groups (I took a star off for Ms Larson not having a list of these acronyms so the reader can keep them all straight), all in all, this is a true page-turner of a book. The idea that a sharecropper with a 6th grade (Mississippi-style) education can make LBJ call a bogus press conference to try & keep America from hearing her powerful story is just gobsmacking. Fannie Lou is the reason I will NEVER miss an opportunity to vote, no matter how badly these reactionary minoritarians try to stop us.

[J. Michael Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fannie Lou was her mother’s 20th and last child, one of them who lived into adulthood. Born in rural Mississippi in 1917, far below any concept we have of poverty, and black. Hamer begin picking cotton as a child, suffered malnourishment, gave away everything she had to her poor neighbors, and died in near poverty. She was involuntarily sterilized, beaten, and raped by white men, and evicted by a white landlord for trying to vote. White men driving trucks slowly cruised by her house, occasionally shooting into it, bombing it once. She was treated dismissively by Martin Luther King Jr. and other men in the civil rights movement for being a woman and only having a sixth grade education. She was ignored by most black pastors in Mississippi for being a rabble rouser. She was treated contemptuously by black power advocates for her resolute loyalty to non-violence and Christianity. When appearing at the 1964 Democratic convention in 1964, after risking her life to integrate the all-white segregationist state party, she had to borrow a dress for the occasion. Speaking eloquently, she electrified the nation. Yet a queasy national party establishment still denied her a seat. As time went on, she started a farm to feed the poor of her own country. It failed. She spoke up for the rights of women, but because she was anti-abortion, an issue deeply emotional for her due to being sterilized and seeing abortion used first hand as a way of genocide. Leaders of the women’s movement dismissed her for her lack of “purity” on that issue. She spoke openly against the Viet Nam War. When she died, her grave went untended for years.

She wasn’t perfect. But if our nation only has one national holiday to honor a singular individual, in my mind, it should not be January 15 for Martin Luther King, Jr., nor February 22 for George Washington, nor October 12 for Columbus. It should be October 6 for Fanny Lou Hamer.

Larson’s biography was my choice to observe “Black History Month.” It doesn’t hide Hamer’s faults. It does make her real, inspiring, and empathetic. It gives us access to Hamer’s power for our own generation.

[La-Shanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You can’t love God and hate.” The book “Walk With Me,” a narrative of the life and legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer depicts life not just in Mississippi where she was born and raised as one of 20 children but the struggle for women in America to achieve economic and political posterity. As a sun flower from Mississippi, I love but have some pain knowing the inequalities that still exist. This book is recommended if you want to know about life in the south, cotton fields, Jim Crow, transformation, empowerment, and politics.

[Gary Pearlz · Rating 4 out of 5]

High 3 stars/low 4 stars.
Hamer comes across as a dynamo, and author Larson clearly admires her. We learn about Hamer's parents and upbringing before the bulk of the book focuses on her work to advance human rights in Mississippi and elsewhere. Lots of detail (maybe too much) on internecine squabbles among the "alphabet soup" of civil rights organizations.

And then it ends. Maybe the pandemic interfered with the research into Hamer's later years. Or maybe there just really isn't much to say about her life post-politics. For me, the book ended too abruptly.

Overall, Larson does well to shine a light on a remarkable life, lived under constant threat of violence and death. Hamer showed great courage and honesty in the face of awful conditions and oppression that managed to silence or at least intimidate millions of other people in the South. Hamer deserves our attention. Larson gives us a well-paced narrative that doesn't shy away from critical analysis of Hamer's flaws, even as it makes abundantly clear that the author admires her subject.

[Delfina Trevisan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won the book Walk with Me, A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer through Goodreads.
This book was a learning experience for me as I was unaware of who Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer was. The details in this biography were very precise and provided a comprehensive introduction about the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee which recruited Fannie to help with voter registration drives in the Southern USA.
Reading this novel gave me a real understanding of the suffering faced by African Americans during this era. I found the novel very enlightening but will note that it was written from more an academic viewpoint. I would have liked to have read more about Fannie’s family particularly her children. It would have been interesting to know the status of her children and their offspring at present.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a very insightful look into the life and times of Fannie Lou Hamer, a crusader in the Civil Rights movement. She was born into a family of 20 children. Her parents were sharecroppers in highly segregated Mississippi. She had to leave school at the age of 12 to start picking cotton to help support her family. As she got older, she resented the fact that African Americans were being denied the right to vote, so that became her crusade.

I have read other books on the Civil Rights movement, but this book was truly eye-opening to the extent of the hate and brutality that Hamer and her colleagues endured at the hands of white people, especially people who were supposed to be upholding the law. This was a very well researched book and one that will be on my mind for a long time.

[Derek Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fannie Lou Hamer was not an entirely new topic for me, but was one whose story I did not know completely. What I found in this book is a historical actor who was instrumental in many of the historic achievements of the Civil Rights Movement especially those that took place in Mississippi. This story is gripping if not infuriating. It is one thing to know what so many people went through simply for seeking rights guaranteed to them by the constitution of their country, it is another thing entirely to read it in detail. Larson makes a difficult story that is difficult to read accessible to a wide audience.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

"As I stand here today, my mind goes back to the problems that we have had in the past. And I think about the Constitution of the United States that says, 'with the people, for the people, and by the people.' And every time I hear it now I just double over laughing because it's not true; it hasn't been true. But we are going to make it true -- this business, 'with a handful, for a handful, by a handful'."
-- Fannie Lou Hamer

What a remarkable woman. I'm sad I never learned of her during my dismal education about civil rights. Thank you Kate Clifford Larson for this thoughtful, thorough, and engrossing biography.

[Linnea Boese · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Walk with Me" is a well-researched history book as well as the biography of a wonderful, courageous Christian woman (the title comes from a hymn she loved to sing). She came from a poor family and had little education, but she made waves in the civil rights movement, first in Mississippi then in the nation. Her motivation to never quit has become well-known: "I'm sick 'n' tired of being sick 'n' tired." She had a right to be, and she leaned on God to guide the way forward as she worked for justice for Black Americans. I appreciate her love for whites who joined her long walk.

[Leanne Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography of a heroic woman who fought so hard for social justice and dignity in the horrible Jim Crow South that was Mississippi. The details of her jail beating, the lengths the mayor went to discredit and bankrupt her, and the endless harassment, all to prevent her and other black residents from voting and gaining power.

Reading biographies really gives readers the reality of how tenacious and determined civil rights workers had to be against an intractable and systemic racist hierarchy built on entrenched power (that slowly moves but slides back if people aren't looking).

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Clifford Larson’s well written biography of Fannie Lou Hamer gives the reader great insight into the life and personality of Hamer and provides important context to Hamer’s work and influence. The work is a powerful and moving history. This biography is an important record of the experiences, efforts, and words of a woman central to the Civil Rights movement. This history and Hamer’s message is as important today as it was in her lifetime. Voting rights and human rights are precious and should be guaranteed and protected for all.

[Donna Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never read a book where I have had to stop and take a couple of days' break from reading. After reading chapter 6, I was numb. The horrific beating and rape of Fannie Lou Hamer, at the hands of the police, for trying to integrate a train station. This book shows the struggle and fight against racism that our African-American citizens faced in the South. It shows their fight and resolve to gain Voting Rights and their struggles and hurdles they faced to register and vote in a racist society.

[John P Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

A True Hero of the People

Karson’s writing is clear and evocative. It almost feels like Hamer is speaking in person about her experiences. After reading this biography, I have a much clearer picture of who Fannie Lou Hamer was. My admiration and awe for her courage is unbound now. We were not taught about this monumental civil rights figure in school but this work is an excellent primer on her life. I highly recommend it to anyone honestly interested in the history of the civil rights era and Fannie Lue Hamer in particular.

[Kei ♥bibliophile♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful eye-opening biography of civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. It tells the story of how she went from growing up poor on a MS plantation to becoming a voice for Black voting rights. The book dives deep into the hard truths of her life 😕 including the violence, racism, and her forced sterilization😡, making parts of it hard AF to read. The author uses new FBI/DOJ sources and interviews to bring new detail to Hamer’s story. Overall, it flows well and keeps you engaged. It's a necessary but difficult 5 star read imo.

[Desi Vial · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great biography of an amazing woman. So brave and completely devoted to the greater cause of Civil Rights while never losing sight of the "regular" people who suffered so much from racism, especially those in her native Mississippi Delta. The book also presents a very comprehensive look at the Civil Rights movement during the 60s through her death in 1977. Fannie Lou Hamer is an overlooked hero and patriot.

[Katy Koivastik · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give “Walk With Me …” ten stars I would. Scrupulously researched and well written, author Kate Clifford Larsen truly imbues readers with the sense they are walking with Mrs. Hamer.

It is hard to imagine the strength Fannie Lou had given the beatings, attempted bombings, and personal heartaches she endured, not to mention the daily life of the Jim Crow South. I admire her greatly and wish I had known her.

Performed with appropriate grit by actress Karen Chilton.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew very little about Mrs. Hamer. I feel like I heard about her through a podcast anyway. I also saw her speech at the dnc convention and she gave me goosebumps. I had to read more about her. She knew many people in the civil rights movement. She was so ambitious and charismatic. She fought hard to vote and better her community. She never gave up and inspired many people to get into civil service and activism.