Feb. 6, 2026

Fannie Lou Hamer—Sick And Tired Of Being Sick And Tired

A single voice can shake a room—and sometimes a nation. We tell the story of Fannie Lou Hamer, the sharecropper who turned pain into power, and show how her fight for voting rights still defines what it means to show up at the ballot box today. From cotton fields and literacy tests to jailhouse beatings and a national convention, we trace the steps that transformed a woman dismissed by her state into a moral force that no president could silence.

We walk through Hamer’s early life in Mississippi, the brutal machinery that kept Black voters from registering, and the night she refused to recant and lost her home. Then we move to Winona, where police ordered inmates to beat her, leaving injuries that never healed. Instead of retreating, she organized. With the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Hamer challenged an all-white delegation and took her story to television, describing the violence and fear that met anyone who dared to vote. Her line—“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired”—was not a catchphrase. It was a charge to a nation that claimed freedom while denying it.

This conversation blends history and urgency: what Hamer endured, why her testimony changed a convention, and how her legacy calls us to act. We talk about voter suppression, resilience, and the difference between rights on paper and rights in practice. If you’ve ever wondered whether one vote matters, Hamer’s life offers the answer, carved in scars and spoken in plain truth. Listen, share, and carry her story into your next election.

If this resonates, follow the show, leave a review, and send this episode to someone who needs a reason to vote. Your voice is your power—use it, and invite a friend to do the same.

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Intro script by Sophie Wild From Fiverr & David McClam

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Chapters

00:00 - Welcome And Safety Reminder

00:35 - Black History Fact Introduced

01:14 - Childhood In Mississippi Sharecropping

02:06 - First Steps Toward Voting Rights

02:46 - Jailhouse Beating And Aftermath

03:09 - MFDP And Televised Testimony

03:34 - Call To Vote And Closing Credits

Transcript

WEBVTT

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Welcome to True Crime, authors and extraordinary people.

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The podcast where we bring two passions together.

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The show that gives new meaning to the old adage, truth is stranger than fiction.

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And reminding you that there is an extraordinary person in all of us.

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Here is your host, David McClam.

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What's going on, everybody, and welcome to another episode of True Crime, Authors and Extraordinary People, Black History Month Fact Edition.

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Of course, I'm your man, David McClam.

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There is nothing worth your life.

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Alright, guys, here we go with another Black History Fact.

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Today we're gonna bring you the story of Fannie Lou Hamer.

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We call this one Fannie Lou Hamer sick and tired of being sick and tired.

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Fannie Lou Hamer was born in 1917 in Montgomery County, Mississippi, the youngest of 20 children in a family of sharecroppers.

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She began picking cotton at the age of six, and by twelve, she was working full days in the fields.

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School was something she attended only when labor allowed.

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Poverty wasn't a phase of her life, it was the structure of it.

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For decades, Mississippi depended on people like Fannie Lou Hamer to survive while ensuring they never had power.

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Power came from voting, and voting was denied through violence, intimidation, and bureaucracy designed to break the human spirit.

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But in 1962, at the age of 44, Fannie Lou Hamer attended a meeting about voting rights.

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It was the first time anyone had ever told her she had the right to vote.

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That knowledge alone changed her life.

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She tried to register.

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She failed the literacy test as almost everyone did, but the attempt itself was enough to make her a target.

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When she returned home, her landlord told her she would have to withdraw her registration or leave the plantation.

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She refused to withdraw, and she was evicted that night.

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That was just the beginning.

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But in 1963, while traveling with fellow activists, Hamer was arrested and taken to a jail in Winona, Mississippi.

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There, police ordered inmates to beat her with clubs while officers watched.

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She was beaten so badly she suffered permanent kidney damage, blood clots, and blindness in one eye.

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She never fully recovered.

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And still she kept going.

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That same year, she helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party created to challenge the all-white Mississippi delegation at the Democratic National Convention.

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When she testified to the committee in 1964, the nation watched.

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She told the truth about the violence, about the beatings, about the terror black voters faced simply for trying to participate in democracy.

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Her voice shook, her words didn't.

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I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, she said, and America heard itself exposed.

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President Lyndon Johnson tried to cut away from her testimony, calling an impromptu press conference to divert attention.

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It didn't work.

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Her testimony aired later that night and changed the national convention.

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Fanny Lou Hamer never held public office.

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She never became wealthy.

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She never stopped being a target.

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But she forced the nation to confront the contradiction between his ideals and his actions.

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She didn't ask politely for freedom.

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She demanded it.

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Bloodied, bruised, and unbowed.

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So black people, when you go into the voting booths, I know that we're gonna have to vote here pretty soon.

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I want you to think of Fanny Lou Hamer.

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I want you to go out there and do your constitutional right that this woman would have given her life for.

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She was certainly beaten for it, she was evicted for it, to give us the right to have our voices be heard.

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So when someone tells you that you should sit at home and your voice don't matter, all I want you to do is come back to this fact and think of the sacrifices that was made by Fanny Lou Hamer.

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Alright, guys, I thank you for joining us today for this one.

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I know you have many choices in true crime and interview podcasts, and I am grateful that I am one of your choices.

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And always remember you have been listening to the only three-faceted podcasts of its kind.

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Be good to yourself and each other.

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And always remember, always stay humble.

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An act of kindness can make someone's day.

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A little love and compassion can go a long way.

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And remember that there is an extraordinary person in all of us.

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I'll catch you guys on the next one.

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Don't forget to rate, comment, and subscribe.

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Feel free to drop us a line at TrueCrime and Authors at gmail.com.

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Sound mixing and editing by David McLenn.

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IntroScript by Sophie Wilde and David McLenn.

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Theme Music Legendary by New Alchemist.

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Introduction and Ending Credits by Jackie Voice.

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See you next time on True Crime Authors and Extraordinary People.