Book: Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrator: Ekua Holmes
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Copyright Date: 2016
Lexile: 820
This is an absolutely beautiful illustrated picture book about the life of Fannie Lou Hamer. I
was not aware of Fannie Lou Hamer until about 4 years ago when I came across her speech
in a Congressional testimony through a video posted by the American Experience PBS
YouTube channel. I immediately looked her up after watching the clip of her speech but I found
out more about her through this book by Carole Boston Weatherford. And the illustrations by
Ekua Holmes are a perfect compliment to the images Weatherford's words create. It is no surprise
that Holmes was awarded a Caldecott honor and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe award for
New talent for this debut work. It is well deserved. This is one of the best nonfiction picture books
I've ever read. I love the way the author has told Fannie Lou Hamer's story through free verse
poetry. She also has done a remarkable job of conveying these poems in the voice of Ms Hamer.
It's a beautifully told tale of an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement, someone more
people should know about.
Fannie Lou Hamer’s story starts with her birth in the Mississippi delta, the youngest of 20 children,
Fannie Lou had to drop out of school after sixth grade to work in the cotton fields. She married
Fannie Lou had to drop out of school after sixth grade to work in the cotton fields. She married
Perry Hamer and adopted two daughters after being tricked into having an operation to prevent
her from being able to have children. In 1962, she attended her first voter registration meeting,
unaware that blacks even had the right to vote.
Within the year she was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement, losing her job and her home
as a result. Imprisoned and badly beaten, she refused to give up her work, eventually becoming a
national spokesperson for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and addressing the 1964
Democratic National Convention about voter discrimination. Fannie Lou also worked to improve
conditions in Mississippi, organizing cotton pickers and starting a Head Start program. She died in
national spokesperson for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and addressing the 1964
Democratic National Convention about voter discrimination. Fannie Lou also worked to improve
conditions in Mississippi, organizing cotton pickers and starting a Head Start program. She died in
1977. There’s a lot of information in this book, and even older students may need some historical
context to understand all of Hamer’s contributions. But it can be read in a classroom or parents can
read it to their children to discuss it along with the today’s similar problems.
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