On July 15, 2015, I attended the Annual March on Washington Film Festival at Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, D.C. and had the opportunity to watch a documentary entitled "This Little Light of Mine: The Fannie Lou Hamer Story". The documentary focused on Mrs. Hamer's activisim during and after the Civil Rights Movement.
Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper, was from Ruleville, Mississippi, with a 6th grade education. She believed that everyone deserved the right to vote. After everyone was given the right to vote in Mississppi, she continured her activism for all the people whose voices were still not being heard in the Mississippi legislature until her death in 1977. Mrs. Hamer's passion and drive for Mississippi voting rights provided her the opportunity to speak at the 1964 Democratic Convention. She spoke on behalf of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a political party that she helped to create.
As I watched and listened to her tell her story, I was brought to tears. I was reminded of the many people who sacrificed for the rights that I have today. Fannie Lou Hamer taught that me that no matter how educated you are or are not, everyone can make an impact their community.