May’s Food Justice Hero: Fannie Lou Hamer

1917 - 1977

activist   l   community organizer   l   leader

Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil rights activist who fought for racial and economic justice. She experienced food injustice firsthand as a sharecropper in Mississippi, where she faced hunger, poverty and discrimination. She saw food as a tool to empower people and challenge white supremacy. She founded the Freedom Farm Cooperative, a community-based project that provided land, housing, education and health care to poor black families.

The Freedom Farm Cooperative was a project that aimed to provide economic independence and political power to poor black families in Mississippi. It was founded by Fannie Lou Hamer in 1969 with donations from supporters. The cooperative owned and operated a farm, a pig-raising program, an affordable housing development, a sewing factory, a health clinic and a credit union. It also offered education, childcare and disaster relief to it’s members. The cooperative faced many challenges and eventually closed in 1976 due to lack of funding and support. Fannie Lou Hamer was an activist due to her contributions to the civil and voting rights movements, a community organizer by becoming the founder of the Freedom Farm Cooperative and rose to become a leader in fighting for better economic opportunities for all African Americans.