45 Fannie Lou Hamer Quotes From The American Civil Rights Activist
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Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil rights activist and the co-founder of Freedom Democratic Party.
She was born on October 6 1917 and passed away on 14 March 1977. She attended school in Mississippi but had to drop out to support her parents.
Fannie Lou Hamer worked tirelessly on the plight of African Americans across America. She was responsible for giving them voting rights.
Her famous saying of being sick and tired created an impact across the country. Several civil rights activists and movements benefitted from Fannie Lou Hamer quotes and they became civil rights quotes for movements like voting rights.
We have the best of Fannie Lou Hamer quotes for the revolutionary in you. These Fannie Lou Hamer quotes include best Fannie Lou Hamer quotes, famous Fannie Lou Hamer quotes, and important Fannie Lou Hamer quotes.
For similar civil rights activist quotes, visit Civil Rights quotes and Rosa Parks quotes.
Best Fannie Lou Hamer Quotes
Here are some of the best quotes from Fannie Lou Hamer, from the civil rights activist herself.
1. “You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.”
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
2. “And, brother, you can believe this or not: I been sick of this system as long as I can remember. I heard some people speak of depression in the ’30s. In the ’20s, it was ’pression with me! De-pression”
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'Speech: I Don’t Mind My Light Shining'.
3. "Righteousness exalts a nation. Hate just makes people miserable."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
4. “And I have walked through the shadows of death because it was on the tenth of September in ’62 when they shot sixteen times in a house and it wasn’t a foot over the bed where my head was.”
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'Speech: I Don’t Mind My Light Shining'.
5. “When I liberate others, I liberate myself.”
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
6. "I might not live two hours after I get back home, but I want to be a part of setting our people free in Mississippi.”
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
7. "Sin is beginning to reproach America today and we want what is rightfully ours."
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'We’re On Our Way'.
8. "The type of education that we get in the state of Mississippi will make our minds so narrow it won’t coordinate with our big bodies."
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'We’re On Our Way'.
9. “If I am truly free, who can tell me how much of my freedom I can have today?”
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
10. “What I’m trying to point out now is when you take a very close look at this American society, it’s time to question these things.”
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'I’m Sick And Tired Of Being Sick And Tired'.
11. "They [The American Government] can’t do that [Protect minorities], but when a white man is killed in the Congo, they send people there"
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'I’m Sick And Tired Of Being Sick And Tired'.
12. "You don't have to like everybody, but you have to love everybody."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
13. "I feel sorry for anybody that could let hate wrap them up."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
14. “All of this is on account we want to register to become first-class citizens, and if the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
15. "The only way we can make this thing of equality a reality in America is to do all we can to destroy this system and bring this out to the light that has been under the cover all these years."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
16. "One day, I know the struggle will change."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
17. "Because a house divided against itself cannot stand and today America is divided against itself because they don’t want us to have even the ballot here in Mississippi.”
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'We’re On Our Way'.
Famous Fannie Lou Hamer quotes
Here are some Fannie Lou Hamer quotes about being sick and tired.
18. "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
19. “We want ours and we want ours now.”
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'We’re On Our Way'.
20. "If you don't speak out ain't nobody going to speak out for you."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
21. "...so many things are under the cover that will have to be swept out and shown to this whole world, not just to America."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
22. “To support whatever is right, and to bring in justice where we’ve had so much injustice.”
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
23. "Nobody 's free until everybody 's free."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
24. "I go to the big city, and with the kind of education they give us in Mississippi, I got problems."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
25. “We didn’t come all this way for no two seats when all of us is tired.”
– Fannie Lou Hamer.
26. "Hate won't only destroy us. It will destroy these people that's hating as well."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
27. “Eighteen hundred and seventy, the Fifteenth Amendment was added on to the Constitution of the United States that gave every man a chance to vote for what he think to be the right way”
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'We’re On Our Way'.
28. "If this is a great society, I'd hate to see a bad one."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
29. "I was forced away from the plantation because I wouldn't go back and withdraw, you know, my literacy test after I had tried to take it. I wouldn't go back."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
30. "With the people, for the people, by the people. I crack up when I hear it; I say, with the handful, for the handful, by the handful, cause that's what really happens."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
31. "We want a change in this society in America because, you see, we can no longer ignore the facts"
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
Important Fannie Lou Hamer quotes
Here are some protest quotes and activist quotes by Fannie Lou Hamer.
32. “I always said if I lived to get grown and had a chance, I was going to try to get something for my mother and I was going to do something for the black man of the South if it would cost my life; I was determined to see that things were changed.”
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
33. "America that is divided against itself cannot stand, and we cannot say we have all of this unity they say we have when black people are being discriminated against in every city in America I have visited."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
34. "There is one thing you have got to learn about our movement. Three people are better than no people."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
35. “You see if you are professional and if you are a nonprofessional, if you are not giving service to your fellow man, well, you can be as fancy-dressed as you want to be, but just don’t go to church because it’s no good. Because we are our brother’s keeper”
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
36. “Can we call this a free country, when I am afraid to go to sleep in my own home in Mississippi?"
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'The Only Thing We Can Do Is to Work Together'.
37. "For three hundred and more years they have had 'time', and now it is time for them to listen."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
38. "I know lots of people in Mississippi who have lost their jobs trying to register to vote."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
39. "This thing they say of the land of the free and the home of the brave is all on paper."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
40. "We are tired of being mistreated."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
41. “We have in Sunflower County fourteen hundred children that we were able to get out of the ghettos, out of the country, and most of these children had never seen a commode in their lives."
- Fannie Lou Hamer, 'The Only Thing We Can Do Is to Work Together'.
42. “These people in Mississippi State, they are not down; all they need is a chance."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
43. "I have just as much right to stay in America - in fact, the black people have contributed more to America than any other race, because our kids have fought here for what was called democracy."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
44. "Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings - in America?”
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
45. "They talked about how it was our rights as human beings to register and vote. I never knew we could vote before. Nobody ever told us."
- Fannie Lou Hamer.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Fannie Lou Hamer quotes then why not take a look at Stokely Carmichael quotes, or I have a dream quotes.
second image credit: JeremySchwartz / Shutterstock.com
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Master of Arts specializing in Mass Communication/Media Studies
Srija ChandaMaster of Arts specializing in Mass Communication/Media Studies
An aspiring media professional, Srija is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Mass Communication at St. Xavier's University, Kolkata, after completing her degree in journalism. With experience in PR and social media, she has also honed her leadership skills through her participation in a youth parliament. Srija's interests include devouring books, watching movies, and exploring new places through travel.
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