Join MSU Libraries and WKAR for a screening of the award-winning documentary, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America as part of the 2025 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Celebration. Fannie Lou Hamer was a leader in the civil rights movement, founder of the Freedom Democratic Party in Mississippi, and the organizer of Freedom Summer, a volunteer-based campaign launched in the summer of 1964 in order to register as many Black voters in Mississippi as possible. FANNIE LOU HAMER’S AMERICA, a documentary produced by her grand-niece Monica Land, and winner of Best TV Feature Documentary or miniseries at the IDA Awards, is a portrait of a civil rights activist and the injustices in America that made her work essential. Through public speeches, personal interviews, and powerful songs of the fearless Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America explores and celebrates the lesser-known life of one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest leaders.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A featuring Tamera Carter (Lansing City Council), Trini Pehlivanoglu (Lansing City Council), and Cindy Villarreal-Medina (Student, MSU College of Social Science), moderated by Erika Vallejo (PhD Candidate, Political Science). The panel will reflect on Hamer’s impact on today’s social justice movements and explore the ongoing fight for equity in the United States.

The event is open and free to the public. Registration is encouraged. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.