Inaugural Fannie Lou Hamer Legacy Tour

1111 Jackson Ave W,Oxford MS 38655

11 June, 2022

Description

Join us for a day-long bus tour guided by Historich as we journey through the Mississippi Delta traveling in the footsteps of Fannie Lou Hamer in honor of her legacy. The tour will depart from Oxford, MS, and make stops in Winona, Ruleville, Cleveland, and Mound Bayou. During the time spent in transit on the bus, there will be time for more discussion of Mrs. Hamer such as watching different videos, singing her favorite songs, and having reflective discussions about the visited sites. Leg #1: Winona, MS (2 stops) Projected Time: 1 hr. Stop 1: Site of Staley’s Cafe and Bus Depot It all started at the Crossroads…The depot and cafe sat at the crossroads of Highways 82 and 51 in what is now the Crossroads Industrial Park just a couple of miles from I-55. It was at this location that Hamer, Ponder, Johnson and others were arrested after members of their group attempted to integrate the cafe. They had been coming home from a workshop in South Carolina in early June 1963. Stop 2: Site of the Winona/ Montgomery County Jail - The scene of the crime…This is the site of the former jail where Fannie Lou Hamer and her cohorts were taken after their arrest at the Bus Depot. It was here that she was severely beaten. She would suffer from the malaffects of this treatment for the rest of her life. Leg #2: Ruleville, MS-(3 stops) Projected Time: 1.5 to 2.0 hrs Stop 3: 626 E. Lafayette St.-The Hamer home, home of a movement…This is the site of the former Hamer home. The family relocated here in December of 1962 after Mrs. Hamer was kicked off of the Marlow plantation for her voter registration attempt. This property would not only become her home for the rest of her life, but the home of the movement as well. Stop 4: William Chapel M.B. Church-Standing on Sacred Courage…The Reverend J.D. Story was one of the few local ministers willing to open his church up to mass meetings and other civil rights work. Located at 915 ByronStreet, the church was just over a quarter of a mile from her home and would later be adjacent to Hamer’s Freedom Farm Cooperative. In August 1962, Hamer came to a mass meeting here which began her social organizing career with SNCC. She had been invited by her friend and neighbor Mary Tucker. Upon her death, she would be funeralized here and laid to rest just down the street. Stop 5: Fannie Lou Hamer Museum and Memorial Gardens- Land and Legacy: A Monument and a Resting Place…Across the street from the church lies 929 Byron Street, an area that is home to the Fannie Lou Hamer Museum and Multipurpose Complex on one corner and Hamer Memorial Gardens on the other. This site was formerly part of the Freedom Farm Cooperative property and it is here that Fannie and Pap Hamerwere laid to rest. Lunch Stop: Cleveland, MS ( 1 hr) Leg #3: Mound Bayou, MS (2 stops) Projected Time: 2hr Stop 6: Knights of Taborian Hospital and T. R. M. Freedom TrailMarker- Mississippi Black Mecca and Safe Haven…It was here at this site that Fannie Lou Hamer passed from this life to the next on March 14, 1977. It was one of few comprehensive hospitals for Blacks in the Delta and throughout the state. Though Dr. T. R. M. Howard fled the state in the late 1950s over fears for his own safety, the hospital and legacy he left behind continued to facilitate quality healthcare services for African Americans who could make it to the hospital including Fannie Lou Hamer twenty years later. Today the building is used as an urgent care clinic. Stop 7: Peter’s Pottery Creativity in the Modern Delta…Founded more than two decades ago by the Woods Family, Peter’s Pottery has become a successful part of the long history of African American business history of Mound Bayou. Using Mississippi Hill Country clay, they transform “Mississippi mud” into artistic and practical pieces that now ship all over the world. Take home your very own Mississippians and support Black businesses and a historically Black town.