Plans are underway for the second annual Fannie Lou Hamer Day observance.
People from across the United States were in Winona last year for a four-day event, which began on June 9, commemorating the day Hamer and other civil rights activists were arrested at a bus station food counter and beaten in the Winona Jail decades earlier.
Bridging Winona organized the event, which included an unveiling of a historical marker in Hamer’s honor, a tour from Winona to the Mississippi Delta and a landowners summit in Winona.
During a board meeting last year, Vickie Ratliff, Bridging Winona event organizer, requested the Winona Board of Aldermen make June 9, Fannie Lou Hamer Day, an annual celebration.
Telling Hamer’s story, events before and after her 1963 arrest, is important. Winona Aldermen approved a proclamation and the posting of the marker, according to a statement released by Nell Davis, Hamer production director. Because of their efforts and shared information, another Mississippi Historical Marker has been installed in Kilmichael in honor of Hamer.
“Bridging Winona wants the public to know that their continuous work in the Winona community and the Montgomery-Carroll County area in the future will educate and inspire people to stop and take time to appreciate their lives now and be grateful for people like Fannie Lou Hamer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, Medgar Evers, Anne Devine, Victoria Adams, James Chaney, Bob Zellner, Stokely Carmichael and countless others for the sacrifices they made for all people,” stated Davis. “They are the inspiration and motivation for Land Literacy and Legacy work to Bridging Winona.”
While Fannie Lou Hamer Day is June 9, Bridging Winona has scheduled a weekend of events falling on June 9, 10 and 11 to include Transformative Conversations, which several influential people will share their experiences, according to the release.
Another planned event will be “Many More Stories to Tell,” where the group will collect information from individuals, young and old, who would like to participate in an oral historyproject slated for the 2023-2024 school year at Winona High School, according to Davis.
There also will be a musical stage play at 7 p.m. on June 9 and 10 and again at 2 p.m. on June 11 at the Performing Arts Center on Summit Street in Winona.
“The production will feature 33 acting parts representing the people who had a lasting impact on Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer’s life – from her childhood, through her struggles with her health, racism and the people who encouraged her to never give up her faith,” stated Davis.
The play depicts the high and low points throughout Hamer’s life, she said.
“One of the goals of this stage production is to educate and re-educate people and to inspire and encourage young people of Winona and in Mississippi to learn more, to learn more about their own personal family history, to spend time asking their parents and grandparents to share with them of the struggles they faced and overcame,” stated Davis.
She stated the group hopes to encourage more people to be more involved in building up their community.
The community reading and casting call for the play is ongoing for supporting roles, and anyone interested in performing can call 662-739-2609. They are looking for participants from ages 6 to older than 65.
