THE FANNIE LOU HAMER LECTURE ON ECONOMIC JUSTICE
Tuesday, February 12, 2002
6:30 – 8:30 PM
Social Justice in the 21st Century:
What's It Going to Take?
A lecture by
LINDA STOUT
Project Director, Spirit in Action
With
Reflections on the Life of Fannie Lou Hamer
By long-time friend
ROSEMARIE FREENEY-HARDING
Co-chairperson, Veterans of Hope Project
The Fannie Lou Hamer Lecture on February 12, 2002, was the first event in The Women's Lecture Series on Human Values, a collaboration between the Boston Research Center and the Wellesley Centers for Women. The inaugural lecture by Linda Stout focused on economic and social justice from a grassroots American perspective. As the founder of North Carolina's Piedmont Peace Project, former director of the Peace Development Fund, and the founder and current director of Spirit in Action, Ms. Stout was the ideal voice to address issues of economic justice, transformational social change, and the role of women as agents of change. Her inaugural lecture was in honor of Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977), a sharecropper's daughter from a family of 20 children. Mrs. Hamer fought courageously for economic justice and civil rights in the Jim Crow South and often inspired others with her comment, "If I can do it, anybody can."
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The spirit of Fannie Lou Hamer was remembered and brought to life on February 12th by her longtime friend, Rosemarie Freeney Harding. Ms. Harding, along with her husband Vincent Harding, struggled with Mrs. Hamer and many others during the Freedom Movement of the 1960s. As directors of Mennonite House in Atlanta, the Hardings sheltered Mrs. Hamer after her infamous beating in a Mississippi jail. Rosemarie Harding remembered Mrs. Hamer as a person who energized others with her own positive spirit which was often expressed in song. As a tribute to Mrs. Hamer, Rosemarie Harding led the audience of over 175 people through several verses of "This Little Light of Mine" as a tape of Fannie Lou Hamer's soulful voice rang out with the simple melody.
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Linda Stout's lecture picked up where the singing left off by recalling her mentor, Septima Clark, who—at age 85—inspired and encouraged Ms. Stout to get involved in her community and believe in her capacity to make a difference. Ms. Stout's lecture focused on the often unheralded influence of women in the ongoing process of social change. She also identified three key aspects of the process of social change based on her work with the National Listening Project she directed as part of her role with the Peace Development Fund:
- We must create a positive, unified vision for the world we want to live in.
- We must find new ways to connect, communicate, and work together that overcome the divisions of racism, classism, and sexism.
- We must be open to the power of the spirit in order to find a connection with something greater than ourselves.
Ms. Stout elaborated on these points by suggesting that social movements have become fragmented and susceptible to the rampant individualism we find elsewhere in our society. To counteract these tendencies, she stressed the importance of community building. "There are no short-cuts to this," she said. "It is time intensive and requires courage on our part to make sure it happens. It is not what many people feel comfortable with in our movement for change. But it is the only thing that will allow us to be successful."
She also emphasized spirituality and urged the audience to grow more comfortable with the spirituality of others. "It [spirit] is what allows me to walk into unknown territory and take risks," she said. She also connected the value of a strong spiritual identity to the life of Fannie Lou Hamer. "What made her extraordinary was her vision of the future. She worked from the heart."
Ms. Stout spoke of her successful efforts to engage the media by community building and connection with others. "You've got to create a trend," she said. One example she shared demonstrated how she was able to get coverage in the New York Times by connecting an environmental problem in West Virginia with environmental issues as far away as Bhopal, India.
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After leading the audience through a brief visioning exercise to help each person focus on the future, Ms. Stout read a quote from her popular book, Bridging the Class Divide and Other Lessons for Grassroots Organizing:
"We will have many visions of what a just and equitable democracy will look like, and we will have even more ideas on how to get there. But we must begin to work together, to compromise, and to listen to each other in order to realize our visions. Working together will be the hardest challenge we will face. Much harder than facing the opposition or working alone. But it is the only way we will win. It is the only way to create revolutionary change".
In closing, she read a poem by Marge Piercy that required other voices to achieve its full impact. At first there was one added voice, then another, then a few, then—at one point—the entire audience was invited to join in. The power of many voices focused on the future resonated through the room as this inspiring evening drew to a close.
Click here for the text of Linda Stout's lecture.
Click here for the text of Rosemarie Freeney-Harding's remarks.
Click here for a summary of the Q/A discussion following the lecture.
Click here for the event brochure in Adobe Acrobat™ (.pdf) format (151k).
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