Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Park

Byron Street Fannie Lou Hamer is buried here, and thetombstone contains her oft-quoted phrase, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Sources: Olson, Lynne. Freedom’s Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970. […]
Fannie Lou Hamer and Civil Rights in Ruleville

The story of the Civil Rights Movement in Ruleville cannot be told apart from the story of Fannie Lou Hamer. The youngest of 20 children in her family, Hamer experienced the hardships of life as a sharecropper. Like many other […]
Grave Site of Fannie Lou Hamer

In 1969, Fannie Lou Hamer bought 40 acres of land to use as a cooperative “Freedom Farm.” The co-op allowed area families to receive vegetables from the farm for a modest one-dollar membership fee. The co-op ultimately went bankrupt, possibly […]
Home of Herman & Hattie Sisson

Night riders were a very real danger to supporters of the Civil Rights Movement, especially so in the autumn of 1962. On the night of September 10, they fired multiple gunshots into the Sisson’s home. Mr. and Mrs. Sisson were […]
Parchman, Mississippi State Penitentiary

Parchman is the Mississippi State Penitentiary. During the Freedom Rides in 1961, Freedom Riders were arrested in Jackson for challenging segregation on public buses. Twenty-seven riders rode from Montgomery, Alabama to Jackson on May 24, 1961. As soon as they […]