Until I Am Free

Explores the Black activist's ideas and political strategies highlighting their relevance for tackling modern social issues including voting rights, police brutality, and women's empowerment.

Until I Am Free A manifesto for anyone committed to social justice, the book challenges us to listen to a working-poor Black woman activist and theorist from the past as we grapple with contemporary concerns around race, inequality, and social justice. Hamer's ideas and fearless activism reveal how we all, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, ability, economic status, or educational background, have the power to transform society.

Born in Montgomery County, Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) was a force to be reckoned with. The youngest of twenty children, she was the granddaughter of enslaved people and worked as a sharecropper before dedicating herself to activism. Working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), assisting with Black voter registration, and serving as vice chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party--which challenged the all-white Mississippi delegation at the Democratic National Convention--Hamer fought for her community.

In 1964, Hamer ran an unsuccessful bid for Congress but her compelling televised speech before the DNC's credentials committee was delivered before millions, and addressed two central issues that remain relevant: voter suppression and state-sanctioned violence. Hamer described the scare tactics and violence she and other African Americans experienced and their lack of access to the vote. Throughout her life, Hamer fought for Black voting rights, social justice, women's empowerment, and economic rights.