This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer is a documentary short that explores the life of an impoverished sharecropper who managed to become a powerhouse in the battle for the right to vote in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement. Along the way, Mrs. Hamer survived a vicious beating in a county jail, attacks against her family, and death threats. Central to this film is Mrs. Hamer’s testimony during the Democratic National Convention in 1964, when she exposed the savage treatment many in Mississippi faced when fighting for equality.
The film incorporates photos and speeches from Mrs. Hamer, as well as interviews from Mrs. Hamer’s daughter, participants of SNCC (the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee), and members of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a group Mrs. Hamer helped create and organize in 1964. The MFDP’s presence at the Democratic National Convention in New Jersey that year is credited for integrating future delegations, and adding momentum to the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer not only reveals the life of a remarkable woman, but enforces the importance of civic engagement and gives proof that every voice matters.
Post-screening discussion with:
Robin N. Hamilton, filmmaker
Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Rahsaan Hall, Deputy Director, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice
Kathy Reddick, Former President of the Cambridge NAACP