Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

 Voice of Freedom Fannie Lou Hamer Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement











BIBLIOGRAPHY

Weatherford, C. B. (2015). Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. (E. Holmes, Illus.) Candlewick Press.


PLOT SUMMARY

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement is a free-verse individual poet compilation of Fannie Lou Hamer’s life. The poems are chronologically ordered beginning with her birth and ending with her receiving a lifelong service award from the Congressional Black Caucus. Beginning with her born as the 20th child of her cotton sharecropper parents, she depicts life in the South under Jim Crow laws. She then marries and begins a life on a new farm where she has more important responsibilities. They build a life and family. She hears of an interest meeting at a church about voter registration. From there she has to retake the test, pay a poll tax, and avoid death by night riders. These all led Fannie to run for elective office, participate in sit-ins and marches, and voter education training. Fannie never rested and took these words to heart, “We serve God by serving our fellow man.” 

  


CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This book is a great addition to any civil rights collection. This individual poet compilation is a gritty look at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. There is a new free-verse poem on each page depicting Fannie’s life. The language of the poetry is written as if she were speaking to the reader. For example: ain’t, improper verbs, and chile. The phrases are arranged in meaningful ways with the illustrations matching the tone on each page. “Sharecropping is just slavery by a gentler name.” (p.3) The imagery created beyond the illustrations grips the reader with creative language. “ Sun up to sun down, dew to dark, can see to can’t.” (p.3) The emotions captured through words make the reader feel angry for the way Fannie was treated. Jailed, beaten, and threatened, Fannie rises again and again from the ashes. Each time they get ahead the reader sympathizes with her when she’s beaten back down by a new challenge. The illustrations are created by collage on paper. The colors are vibrant on the happier pages, and darker on the challenging pages. A few of the pages included words in the collage from newspaper clippings. The illustrations are also multi-layered and seem to jump out of the page at the reader. This book is an excellent tool for teaching about the Civil Rights Movement, Black History, and appeals to those seeking justice and equality. There is an Author’s Note, timeline, and source notes page at the end of the book. This book is recommended for grades 6th and up.


REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Booklist starred (July 2015 (Vol. 111, No. 21))

Grades 4-7. In this stunning biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, we walk beside her through tears and smiles on a remarkable journey of resilience and determination that leaves us transformed. The narrative is organized into a sequence of free-verse poems that stand alone as successfully as they link together. They describe what it was like to begin life under Jim Crow oppression and emerge a national hero. We learn that she cared for her aging mother, married, and adopted children; that she was forcibly sterilized, arrested, beaten, and most important, remained an activist her entire life. Caldecott Honor winner Weatherford (Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, 2006) has rendered Hamer’s voice so precisely that it is like sitting at her knee as she tells her story. Holmes’ multimedia collages perfectly capture the essence of each poem. Like Hamer’s life, the illustrations are filled with light, texture, movement, and darkness. They are both abstract and realistic, brilliantly juxtaposing gentle floral motifs with protest placards and Fannie Lou Hamer’s face in bold relief. Ultimately, though this is Hamer’s story, it includes the collaborative struggles of others with whom she worked and fought for a different America. Bold, unapologetic, and beautiful.

CONNECTIONS

Students can research other Civil Rights leaders

Discuss the Sibert, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent awards


Similar books:

Tonatiuh, D. Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation. ISBN: 978-1419710544

Pinkney, A. Martin Rising: Requiem for a King. ISBN: 978-0-545-70253-9

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