FTV 068 Mississippi Freedom Summer
“We do want to be treated as human beings, and I’m fightin’ for human right, not for equal right.”
~Fannie Lou Hamer
In the summer of 1964, black voters in the southern United States were to alter forever the oppressive rule that had dominated their lives since the end of the Civil War… They would march. They would demand. They would desegregate. They would vote… and some would die… but they would overcome.
This week on From the Vault, Pacifica Radio Archives proudly presents actuality from this turbulent time in history, as outlined in the definitive 1981 documentary by Earl Ofari Hutchinson titled, Mississippi Freedom Summer: A Pacifica Archive Retrospective — a project funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. With its well-polished presentation, this historic recording explores the political, economic, and social impact of the Mississippi Freedom movement in 1964, and substantiates the effect that the movement had on the history of the United States — how it ultimately stimulated social change.
One of the shining stars of that summer was a vibrant woman named Fannie Lou Hamer; Pacifica Radio Archives is honored to maintain numerous master recordings with her voice. During the seconds half of this week’s episode, we’ll join Colin Edwards for the 1965 Fannie Lou Hamer Interview in Berkeley, California, in which Hamer discusses feminine Black Power at work in the jungle of Mississippi Democratic Party politics.
From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.
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