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A world where Black women and girls THRIVE!

 

ABOUT US

The Fannie Lou Hamer Institute of Advocacy & Social Action was born in the mind and heart of Founder Paulene Angelicia Simmons (“Angie”) to honor the Mississippi born civil rights activists’ work. After receiving permission from Hamer’s daughter, Vergie Faulkner, the Institute was incorporated on August 24, 2014, and shortly thereafter, the Fannie Lou’s Girls’ Program was implemented. The Program kicked off its first session on Monday, October 6, 2014, what would have been Hamer’s 97th birthday. There were over fifteen people in attendance.

In July 2017, the Center for Black Girls hosted its 1st Annual Her~She Girls’ Leadership Summer Camp. There were 20 girls who participated in the Her~She Girls’ Camp, several attending daily. Of the 20 girls who participated, seven remained to participate in the Fannie Lou’s Girls’ Fall and Spring Saturday sessions. Participants in the Program learned debate principles, how to research information for debate argument using the Wake County Public Library resources, how to play chess, how to create advocacy campaign materials (supporting the release of Cyntonia Jones), and the workings of the Executive and Legislative branches of North Carolina Government.

P. Angelicia Simmons, J.D. Executive Director, Mentor

P. Angelicia Simmons, J.D.
Executive Director, Mentor

 
Credit: Methodist Church Global Ministries/Kenneth Thompson

Credit: Methodist Church Global Ministries/Kenneth Thompson

 

Currently, the Institute’s Center for Black Girls, Fannie Lou’s Girls, has serviced over 20 Black girls through its Saturday sessions and its Annual Her~She Girls’ Leadership Summer Camp.  Currently, Fannie Lou’s Girls is receiving funding from the NoVo Foundation. The Center for Black Girls’ sessions are currently held at libraries and at our headquarters in Wendell, NC.

The Institute will also serve Black women with future plans of establishing the Maria Y. Stewart Center for Black women seeking political seats, the *Minnie Ransom Center for Black women seeking mental, physical and spiritual wellness, the Joan Little Center for Black women who are encountering the criminal justice system and the Brittany Cooper Center for Black women interested in writing and sharing their work on political and social womanist thought.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to empower, equip, and uplift Black women and girls by providing womanist centered activities and pedagogy presented in culturally-contextualized safe spaces.

VALUES

  1. We believe and trust Black women and girls.

  2. We believe that Black women and girls can lead, and we trust that leadership.

  3. We believe in the liberation of all oppressed people and advocate for such.

  4. We recognize that Black women and girls are survivors in a world that is oppressive on multiple platforms and celebrate that survival through various art forms and expressions.

* Minnie Ransom is the fictional character in Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Salt Eaters.”

 

WHY FANNIE LOU?

  • Co-founded & represented the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the 1964
    Democratic convention

  • Created anxiety in President Johnson such that he sent operatives to the MFDP to
    negotiate

  • Rebuked Senator Humphrey when he presented a watered down political plan by the
    Democratic Party

  • Ran for Congress in 1964 and 1965

  • Outspoken critic of the Vietnam War 

  • Was one of the delegates from Mississippi at the 1968 Democratic Convention

  • Recruited by SNCC to begin work with them after her speech to the Democratic party in1964

  • Received the Mary Terrell Life Award from Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (DST)

  • Honorary member of DST before her death in 1977

  • Born in 1917, the youngest of 20 children

  • Sterilized in 1961 during Mississippi’s eugenics years