Fannie Lou Hamer rattled the Democratic convention with her ‘Is this America?’ speech 60 years ago

Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is accepting the Democrats’ presidential nomination Thursday exactly 60 years after another Black woman mesmerized the nation with a speech that still resonates in American politics. Fannie Lou Hamer was a leader of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. In 1964, the racially integrated group challenged the seating of an all-white Mississippi delegation to the Democratic National Convention. Hamer told the credentials committee about losing her home and being beaten because of civil rights activities. Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson says the lesson he learned from Hamer in the 1960s still applies: It’s important to ensure democracy is for everybody, not just the wealthy.