Fannie Lou Hamer Quotes

Fannie Lou Hamer: Words of Courage and Inspiration

Fannie Lou Hamer was a tireless advocate for civil rights, whose powerful voice and unwavering determination helped shape the American movement for justice and equality. Born in rural Mississippi in 1917, Hamer rose from humble beginnings to become a prominent leader in the fight against racial oppression, voter suppression, and social injustice. 
Her words—often rooted in her own experiences of hardship, hope, and resilience—continue to inspire generations striving for freedom and dignity.
This page presents a collection of Fannie Lou Hamer’s most memorable quotes. Through her speeches, interviews, and activism, Hamer’s wisdom and courage shine through—reminding us of the enduring struggle for human rights and the power of speaking truth to power. 
As you read her words, may you find inspiration, strength, and a renewed commitment to justice.

Fannie Lou Hamer's Most Memorable Quotes

“And I’ve been tired so long, now I am sick and tired of being sick and tired, and we want a change.” 
“I addressed him and told him and said, ‘I didn't try to register for you. I tried to register for myself.’ I had to leave that same night.”
“A house divided against itself cannot stand; America is divided against itself and without their considering us human beings, one day America will crumble.”
“Never to forget where we came from and always praise the bridges that carried us over.”
“You can pray until you faint, but if you don’t get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap. And I believe tonight, that one day in Mississippi—if I have to die for this—we shall overcome. ”
“I feel better than I've felt in a long time because all of these people here, we got to do something. And we've been down so long, we ain't got no other way to go but up.”
“Nobody is free until everybody is free.” 
“Sometimes it seem like to tell the truth today is to run the risk of being killed. But if I fall, I’ll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I’m not backing off.”
“You can pray until you faint, but if you don’t get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.”
“I question America. Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
“And we can no longer ignore the fact that we can’t sit down and wait for things to change. Because as long as they can keep their feet on our neck, they will always do it. But it’s time for us to stand up and be women and men.”
“I can forgive easily for a lot of things, but when white America was taking my name that was a crime."
“If I hate you because you hate me, I’m no better than you are.” 
“If the white man gives you anything – just remember when he gets ready, he will take it right back. We have to take care of ourselves.”
“‘Well, if we can get rid of Fannie Lou,’ [they] said, ‘we can get rid of the trouble.’ But what they don’t know, freedom is like an eating cancer, if you kill me, it will break out all over the place.”
“It’s one thing I don’t want you to say tonight after I finish—and it won’t be long—I don’t want to hear you say, ‘Honey, I’m behind you.’ Well, move, I don’t want you back there. Because you could be two hundred miles behind. I want you to say, ‘I’m with you.’ And we’ll go up this freedom road together.”
“Sin is beginning to reproach America today and we want what is rightfully ours.”
“There’s no race in America that’s no meeker than the Negro. We’re the only race in America that has had babies sold from our breast, which was slavery time. And had mothers sold from their babes. And we’re the only race in America that had one man had to march through a mob crew just to go to school, which was James H. Meredith. We don’t have anything to be ashamed of. All we have to do is trust God and launch out into the deep. You can pray until you faint, but if you don’t get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.”
“When I liberate myself, I liberate others. If you don’t speak out, ain’t anybody going to speak out for you.”
That’s why it is called that instead of the “land of the free and the home of the brave,” it’s called in Mississippi “the land of the tree and the home of the grave.”      
“This probably don’t sound too good to everybody. But if I can’t tell the truth—just tell me to sit down—because I have to tell it like it is.” 
“We want a change in this society in America because, you see, we can no longer ignore the facts and getting our children to sing ‘Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed.’  What do we have to hail here?  The truth is the only thing going to free us.”
“I always said if I lived to get grown and had a chance, I was going to try to get something for my mother and I was going to do something for the black man of the South if it would cost my life; I was determined to see that things were changed.”
“Yes, a lot of people will roll their eyes at me today. But I’m going to tell you just like it is.”
“My mother bought me the first Black doll I had ever seen…The only doll that she ever bought me was a Black doll. And what my mother was doing I couldn't understand it then. But I understand now. She was at that time teaching me to respect myself.”
“There’s so much hypocrisy in this society. And if we want America to be a free society we have to stop telling lies. Because we’re not free and you know we’re not free.”
“What I’m trying to point out now is when you take a very close look at this American society, it’s time to question these things. We have made an appeal for the President of the United States and the Attorney General to please protect us in Mississippi. And I can’t understand how it’s out of their power to protect people in Mississippi. They can’t do that. But when a white man is killed in the Congo, they send people there.”
“One day you'll be proud when you can say, 'Senator Fannie Lou Hamer' because I'm on my way baby.”
“Freedom is not something that's put in your lap, you got to stand up.”
“So, whether you black as a skillet or white as a sheet, we are made from the same blood and we are on our way!”
“Mississippi is not actually Mississippi’s problem. Mississippi is America’s problem. Because if America wanted to do something about what has been going on in Mississippi, it could have stopped by now.” 
“And I said to President Johnson at that time, “If this society of yours is a Great Society, God knows I would hate to live in a bad one.”
“We know this country was built on the Black backs of Black people.” 
“We work all the time and never have enough food. But the white man be riding around in fine cars, and they have plenty of to eat. But I didn't realize at the time he was stealing it from me.”
“I've been beaten in jail until my body was hard as metal, but I'm not stopping.”
“My mother told me…‘Child, you don't understand what I'm saying now. But as you get older you'll understand. There's nothing wrong with you being Black," she said. ‘And I don't want you to forget that…If God had wanted you to be another color you would've been another color.’”
“The flag is drenched with our blood, because you see we have never accepted slavery.”
“They know what they've done to us. All across this country, they know what they've done to us.”
“We are tired. We are tired of a lot of things. We are tired of working for a measly $3 a day, going home and being too tired to cook what little we did have. Because we have been hungry, we have been taught to have dignity and respect.”
“Being one of 20 children, a very poor family, sharecroppers in the state of Mississippi, I know what it's like to be hungry. I know what it's like to be without clothes. I know what it's like to be without food.”
“This country is desperately sick. And man is on the critical list. I really don’t know where we go from here.” 
“[My mother told me] ‘Don't be ashamed of being Black and respect yourself as a child. And as you get older, respect yourself as a Black woman. You might not understand what I'm saying now, but one day you'll understand."
“…All of the burning and bombing that was done to us and the houses, nobody never said too much about that and nothing was done. But let something be burned by a Black and then, my God, you know?”
“I’ve heard several comments from people that was talking about, ‘with the people. For the people. And by the people.’ Being a Black woman from Mississippi, I’ve learned that long ago that’s not true. It’s ‘with the handful. For a handful. By a handful.’ But we going to change that, baby. We are going to change that because we going to make democracy a reality for all of the people of this country.”
“And I think that charity really begin at home.”
“And I want to say, I want to say to you white America, you can’t destroy me because I’m Black to save your life without destroying yourself.”
“We are going to make things better, and we are going to straighten out the crooked roadways, not only in Mississippi, but throughout this country.”
“We know as well as you know, that this country was built on the blood and the sweat of Black people. And all we are saying to you today, now, what you have done in the past, you’ve done that. But we can’t let you get away with just trying to wipe us out as human beings.”
“I don’t want you telling me to go back to Africa, unless you going back where you come from. I got a note one day telling me to ‘go back to Africa’ and ever since that time, it’s been three times a week, I say it, when I am in a white audience. I say we’ll make a deal, after you send all the Koreans back to Korea, the Chinese back to China, the Jewish people back to Jerusalem, the Koreans back to Korea, and you give the Indians their land back and you get on the Mayflower from which you come…we all here on borrowed land. We have to figure out how we’re going to make things right for all the people of this country.”