Last edited Sun May 29, 2016, 11:22 AM - Edit history (1)
It premiered May 21 and they've been airing it in the last week. Neflix and other outlets will soon have it too. It was a remarkable time in the 1960s and I remember some of it when young. My mother took our older brother to hear LBJ speak and I'm grateful I had the chance to meet and hear Civil Rights leader Julian Bond speak twice, and Angela Davis at a local college lecture when I was a High School student. It's great that you took classes recently on this very important era. ~ I wish Trump would reconsider fighting, I mean debating Bernie to save his reputation and preserve his 'manhood' ya know. Feel the Bern! 
- Mississippi Civil Rights Activist FANNIE LOU HAMER (Speech to the 1964 Democratic Convention is shown in the film)
Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977)
Fannie Lou Hamer was the youngest of 20 children, who became sharecroppers like their parents. Her grandparents had been slaves. Hamer's mother fashioned a black doll for her when she was young, so that she would develop self-confidence and pride despite her poor surroundings. Her mother also taught her spiritual strength, including the power of song.
In 1961 she was sterilized without her knowledge, as part of Mississippi's systematic effort to reduce the poor black population. Soon after, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee visited Hamer's church; she was a 44-year-old Delta field hand who had become a plantation time-keeper. In 1962, Hamer was arrested when she tried to register to vote. According to her biographer, the costs of Hamer's initial activism were severe. She was evicted, jailed, and beaten, suffering kidney damage and partial blindness.
As SNCC's Mississippi field secretary, she became vice chairman of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and received national attention during its attempt to unseat the all-white Mississippi delegation at the 1964 Democratic Convention. Although the party's efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, Hamer riveted television audiences with her testimony. "If the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now," she said, "I question America." Fannie Lou Hamer would continue to fight racism and poverty for the rest of her life.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/profiles/11_hamer.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/freedomsummer-hamer/
- Impossible 'Literacy Test' given to black voters in 1964 in Louisiana. 10 mins. allowed to complete.
http://boingboing.net/2013/09/23/take-the-impossible-lit.html
*Fannie Lou Hamer's Moving Speech to the 1964 Democratic Convention; more on the Civil Rights movement, LBJ.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017375388
"Bernie Sanders Found His Place in the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago",
http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-in-chicago-sanders-found-his-place-in-civil-rights-movement-2016-2
Bernie's background certainly influenced his political and social views, and the challenges he faced during 1959-1962 at a young age were extraordinary. What a man of the people he is with rare principles and courage. And I've always respected fighters.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders
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