Making of the Film
Production / Filming
Fannie Lou Hamer authors and historians Drs. Maegan Parker Brooks (l) and Davis Houck (c) and videographer Pablo Correa discuss their plans for the film in the first production meeting held in the Delta in 2018.
The first draft of the script for the film, Fannie Lou Hamer's America.
Dr. Davis Houck, Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies at Florida State University (center) helped bring the "Dream Team" together for the film and overall project.
The Fannie Lou Hamer's America Team (left to right) Videographer and web spinner Pablo Correa, Executive Producer Keith Beauchamp, Director and Editor Joy Davenport, Lead Consultant and Researcher Dr. Maegan Parker Brooks and Producer and Developer Monica Land discuss the format and content of the film. Patrick Weems (top center) a longtime friend and project partner of the team, hosted the production meetings at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC) in Sumner.
Dr. Maegan Parker Brooks and Monica Land outside the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta.
Keith Beauchamp and Dr. Davis Houck (both Fannie Lou Hamer and Emmett Till historians) enjoying the scenery of the Delta.
Fannie Lou Hamer's husband "Pap" was born in Kilmichael, Mississippi in Montgomery County. Fannie Lou was born near there.
Director and editor Joy Davenport shoots footage inside the Shady Grove Methodist Church in Kilmichael. Fannie Lou Hamer sang in this church when she and her husband, Pap, would visit his family. This church has since been remodeled. Read more about Shady Grove on our Driving Tour page.
Joy Davenport quietly shoots footage in the Shady Grove Cemetery where many of Pap Hamer's relatives are buried including his father, stepmother and three brothers.
This confederate statue stands outside of the Winona-Montgomery Public Library in Winona, Mississippi. This was the site of the original courthouse where Fannie Lou Hamer stood trial on fraudulent charges following her arrest and vicious beating in June 1963.
Fannie Lou Hamer's hometown after she left Montgomery County as a child.
Joy Davenport films outside of the William Chapel Church in Ruleville where Fannie Lou Hamer attended her first mass meeting in August 1962. Her entry into equal and civil rights began there.
Joy Davenport filming inside William Chapel Church.
Joy Davenport films in front of the former site of Hamer's home on Lafayette Street.
"Mr. Chairman, and to the Credentials Committee. My name is Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, and I live at 626 East Lafayette Street, Ruleville, Mississippi, Sunflower County..." is how Hamer began her testimony on Aug. 22, 1964. It is one of her most powerful and endearing speeches.
Joy Davenport filming at the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden and Park.
Joy Davenport filming at the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden and Park in Ruleville. Both Hamer and her husband Pap, are buried there. This park was the location of the Freedom Farms Hamer organized to feed the hungry in the Delta.
Hattie Jordan (center) curator of the Fannie Lou Hamer Multipurpose Complex and Museum walks with Joy Davenport to the old site of Hamer's Lafayette Street home now demolished.
The Sunflower County Courthouse as it stands now in Indianola, Mississippi. The original courthouse that Fannie Lou Hamer went to try to register to vote in 1962 was torn down and replaced in 1966.
Joy Davenport shooting footage in front of the Sunflower County Courthouse in Indianola.
The original voter registration roll that Fannie Lou Hamer signed is kept in the vault of the Sunflower County Courthouse.
Videographer and project photographer RJ Fitzpatrick sets up a shot at the home of one of Fannie Lou Hamer's daughters, Lenora (Nook) Flakes in Ruleville, Mississippi.
Videographer Pablo Correa and Joy Davenport arrive at a Mississippi Delta cotton field for filming.
Joy Davenport walks along the outskirts of a Delta cotton field for filming.
Cotton played a crucial role in Fannie Lou Hamer's life. She was tricked into picking cotton by the plantation owner when she was six-years-old. And as an adult, she became a timekeeper on the Marlowe Plantation.
Joy Davenport and videographer Pablo Correa operate a drone for filming in the cotton fields.
Videographer Pablo Correa operates a drone for filming in the Delta.
Joy Davenport filming at the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden and Park.
Joy Davenport and RJ Fitzpatrick filming at the park near the pavilion.
Joy Davenport finishing up principal photography under the sunset of the Mississippi Delta.
Joy Davenport filming near the statue of Fannie Lou Hamer at the park.
An old commissary store on a plantation in the Mississippi Delta where sharecroppers would buy or trade for goods. As a six-year-old, Fannie Lou Hamer was promised Cracker Jacks and candy from the plantation owner's commissary store if she would go in the fields and pick cotton. She did. And thus began a life of continued hardship.
Joy Davenport completing principal photography in the Delta.
Joy Davenport walking down the corridor of an abandoned building in the Delta.
Public Screenings
The first screening of the new documentary, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America, was held on Nov. 20, 2019, at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in Oxford.
A packed audience at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) watches the new and original documentary, Fannie Lou Hamer's America.
Fannie Lou Hamer's America is listed on the Fall lineup of screenings at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.
Director and Editor Joy Davenport speaks with Overby fellow Curtis Wilke after the screening of Fannie Lou Hamer's America, addressing questions from the audience.
A screening of Fannie Lou Hamer's America was hosted by Willamette University in Salem, OR as part of their MLK celebration. The film's lead researcher and consultant, Dr. Maegan Parker Brooks (l), videographer Dr. Pablo Correa (c) and director and editor Joy Davenport (r) led a panel discussion after the screening.
Willamette professors, Maegan Parker Brooks (c) and Pablo Correa (r) and filmmaker Joy Davenport discuss the film the audience after the screening.
In conjunction with the Mississippi Humanities Council, the Mississippi Museum of Art hosted a public screening of the film, Fannie Lou Hamer's America on March 7, 2020, for their Art and Coffee series in Jackson, MS.
A diverse crowd attends the screening of Fannie Lou Hamer's America at the Museum of Art in Jackson, MS.
Young and older viewers enjoy the screening (and coffee!) at the Museum of Art in Jackson, MS.
One of the last screenings of Fannie Lou Hamer's America with Director and Editor Joy Davenport was scheduled at the Women of Color of Conference in Nebraska on March 27, 2020. The screening was subsequently canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first virtual public screening of Fannie Lou Hamer's America was hosted by the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford, CT on April 8, 2021. The screening was curated by Dr. Pablo Correa, the program director of Digital Media and Communication at USJ and a videographer for the film.
Director and Editor Joy Davenport engages in a panel discussion with Dr. Pablo Correa and several others following a virtual screening of Fannie Lou Hamer's America at USJ.
Pablo Correa, professor at USJ, and curator of the film's virtual screening (top left) answers questions from viewers along with Joy Davenport (2nd row center) and other moderators.