Fannie Lou Hamer was supposed to have a fibroid removed from her uterus. Instead, her white doctor did something MUCH more serious and dangerous to her – and he did so WITHOUT her permission!
He performed a hysterectomy – the removal of her uterus – making her infertile! She and her husband were childless, and now Hamer would never have biological children.
Even worse? Hamer soon found out that she wasn’t the only Black woman this happened to.
It was called a “Mississippi Appendectomy,” slang for giving Black women unnecessary and non-consensual hysterectomies. These procedures were meant to curtail the Black population, but for Hamer, this violation of her body had another effect.
She decided to fight back! After adopting two girls, she got trained in community organizing and voting rights. She helped create Freedom Summer to organize Black voters and even founded a Black political party to strengthen the Black vote.
Her daughter even continues Hamer’s fight for equality today!
Fannie Lou Hamer’s reproductive organs were stolen from her, but she still gave birth to another generation of freedom fighters. As her story reminds us, Black bodies have always been under attack. We can’t change the past, but we CAN fight for the future!