Fannie Lou Hamer Educational Grant

The Fannie Lou Hamer Educational Grant is awarded by the Georgia Federation of Public Service Employees to members who earn a Master's or Doctorate Degree while working.

This competitive grant is designed to recognize and reward members who pursue higher education for their personal growth and development, and to be of greater service to the community. The Fannie Lou Hamer grant acknowledges the challenges of advancing one's education while balancing family and work life. This grant honors the extraordinary struggles and accomplishments of Fannie Lou Hamer, who fought for ordinary people to ensure access to government services, political representation, and equality.

Qualifications:

  • A member in good standing for at least 2 years before application
  • Obtain a Master's or Doctoral Degree from an accredited college or university while working
  • Members may request an application and apply within 60 days of obtaining their advanced degree.
  • Grants up to $2,500 are awarded in January of each year
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About Fannie Lou Hamer:

Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer was born in Montgomery County, Mississippi. Her parents were sharecroppers, and she began picking cotton with her family at age six. By age 12, she left school to work full-time. In 1944, she married Perry Hamer, and they worked on a Mississippi plantation owned by W.D. Marlow until 1962. Since Hamer was the only person who could read and write, she also served as the plantation's timekeeper.

In June 1963, after successfully completing a voter registration program in Charleston, South Carolina, Hamer and several other Black women were arrested for sitting in a “whites-only” bus station restaurant in Winona, Mississippi. At the Winona jailhouse, she and several of the women were brutally beaten, leaving Hamer with lifelong injuries from a blood clot in her eye, kidney damage, and leg damage.

In 1964, Hamer’s national reputation soared as she co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which challenged the local Democratic Party’s efforts to block Black participation. Hamer and other MFDP members attended the Democratic National Convention that year, insisting on being recognized as the official delegation. When Hamer spoke before the Credentials Committee, calling for mandatory integrated state delegations, President Lyndon Johnson held a televised press conference so she would not get any TV airtime. However, her speech, with its poignant descriptions of racial prejudice in the South, was broadcast later. By 1968, Hamer’s goal for racial fairness in delegations had become a reality, and she was part of Mississippi’s first integrated delegation.

Frustrated with the political process, Hamer turned to economics as a way to achieve greater racial equality. In 1968, she started a “pig bank” to give free pigs to Black farmers so they could breed, raise, and slaughter them. A year later, she launched the Freedom Farm Cooperative (FFC), buying land that Black people could own and farm collectively. With help from donors, including famous singer Harry Belafonte, she bought 640 acres and started a cooperative store, boutique, and sewing business. She single-handedly made sure 200 units of low-income housing were built—many of which still stand in Ruleville today.

In 1977, Hamer died of breast cancer at age 59. Forty-eight years after her death, President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. The spirit of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer lives forever through FPSE educational grants.