About this item
She was born the 20th child in a family that had lived in the Mississippi Delta for generations, first as enslaved people and then as sharecroppers. She left school at 12 to pick cotton, as those before her had done, in a world in which white supremacy was an unassailable citadel. She wassubjected without her consent to an operation that deprived her of children. And she was denied the most basic of all rights in America -- the right to cast a ballot -- in a state in which Blacks constituted nearly half the population.And so Fannie Lou Hamer lifted up her voice. Starting in the early 1960s and until her death in 1977, she was an irresistible force, not merely joining the swelling wave of change brought by civil rights but keeping it in motion. Working with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) ,which recruited her to help with voter-registration drives, Hamer became a community organizer, women's rights activist, and co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
About the Author
Kate Clifford Larson is a bestselling author of critically acclaimed and award winning biographies including: Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, which tells the remarkable story of one of America's most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century; Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter; and Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. A specialist in 19th and 20th century U.S. Women's and African American History, Larson is also an award-winning consultant whose work includes feature film scripts - most recently Focus Features' Harriet starring Cynthia Erivo - documentaries, museum exhibits, and public history initiatives including three Harriet Tubman state and national historical parks, and the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway and All-American Road. She is frequently interviewed for national and international radio programs and media outlets and has appeared on national and international television broadcasts including BBC, PBS, and C-Span, cable networks, CBS Sunday Morning, and WGBH. Larson is currently a Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center Visiting Scholar. With two degrees from Simmons University, an MBA from Northeastern University, and a Doctorate in American History from the University of New Hampshire, Larson has nurtured a passion for researching and writing about American women's lives. She relishes the challenges of teasing out life stories from voices that have long been silenced. "I feel strongly that we must reconnect with the women who helped build and shape this country," Larson recently wrote, "and by putting women at the center of the story, the world looks very different - more complex, interesting, and vibrant." See the Greater Boston show featuring Adam Reilly's interview with Larson on WGBH https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=gAjyoxCyhKASee the CBS Sunday Morning Show featuring Larson talking about Harriet Tubman! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tracing-the-remarkable-lifes-path-of-harriet-tubman/. Watch Kate Clifford Larson's interview about Rosemary Kennedy with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Eileen McNamara at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Forum on C-Span Book TV: http://www.c-span.org/video/? 328843-1/kate-clifford-larson-rosemary. And check out her website at www.katecliffordlarson.com for more information about her books, awards, reviews, and upcoming events, and her special website dedicated to Harriet Tubman at www.harriettubmanbiography.com Author photos by (c) Susan Wilson www.susanwilsonphoto.com
