Places
The Fannie Lou Hamer statue in Ruleville
Facts about the bronze statue of Fannie Lou Hamer dedicated in Ruleville on October 5, 2012: sculptor Brian Hanlon, the pose, the base and the Atlantic City cast.
In short
The bronze statue of Fannie Lou Hamer in the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden in Ruleville, Mississippi, was dedicated on October 5, 2012, the day before what would have been her 95th birthday. New Jersey sculptor Brian Hanlon made it. It shows Hamer singing into a megaphone at a rally and stands on a four-foot marble base with three photographs and three of her quotations. Press reports put its cost at $85,000, raised from private donations. A resin cast was unveiled at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in 2023.
- Dedicated
- October 5, 2012
- Sculptor
- Brian Hanlon, of Toms River, New Jersey
- Material
- Bronze, on a 4-foot marble base
- Pose
- Singing into a megaphone at a rally
- Base
- Three photographs and three quotations
- Cost
- $85,000 in private donations (press reports)
- Copy
- Resin cast at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, unveiled October 10, 2023
“If I fall, I'll fall five feet four inches forward for freedom.”
What does the statue look like?
The statue shows Hamer full length, mid-song, holding a megaphone as she did at rallies. The pose recalls the role she was best known for inside the movement: leading the singing that held meetings together. It stands on a marble base about four feet high. According to theGrio's report of the dedication, the base carries three photographs of Hamer from the years of the struggle and three of her sayings, including the line quoted above about falling forward for freedom, a reference to her height of five feet four inches.
When and how was it dedicated?
It was dedicated on Friday, October 5, 2012, the day before what would have been her 95th birthday. The Associated Press reported that hundreds attended. Speakers included Heather McTeer, the former mayor of Greenville; state senator Willie Simmons of Cleveland; and Charles McLaurin, the SNCC organizer who worked beside Hamer from 1962 and who said he had long wanted a statue of her in the Delta. Hamer's daughter sang. Reena Evers-Everette, daughter of Medgar Evers, also spoke, theGrio reported.
At the ceremony a speaker noted that Hamer was then one of very few African American women honored with a freestanding public statue in the United States.
Who made it?
Brian Hanlon, a New Jersey sculptor based in Toms River, designed and made the statue. Hanlon has made many public monuments. A national statue committee raised the money; it is a separate group, unrelated to this website.
Is there a copy in Atlantic City?
Yes. On October 10, 2023, a resin cast of the statue, over seven feet tall, was unveiled at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, the building where the 1964 Democratic National Convention met. It was donated to the city by a professor at Stockton University, according to DownBeach.com. In August 2024 a Mississippi Freedom Trail marker honoring Hamer was also placed on the Atlantic City boardwalk.
How do I see the statue?
It stands in the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden on Byron Street in Ruleville, outdoors and free to visit. See the memorial garden page for directions and visiting tips, and the Ruleville guide for nearby sites.
Questions readers ask
Who made the Fannie Lou Hamer statue?
Brian Hanlon, a sculptor based in Toms River, New Jersey, who has made many public monuments.
When was the statue unveiled?
On Friday, October 5, 2012, in Ruleville, one day before the 95th anniversary of Hamer's birth. The Associated Press reported that hundreds attended; theGrio put the crowd at more than 500.
Is there a Fannie Lou Hamer statue in Atlantic City?
Yes. On October 10, 2023, a resin cast of Hanlon's statue, over seven feet tall, was unveiled at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, where she testified in 1964.
Who paid for the statue?
Press reports say the $85,000 cost was raised through private donations gathered by a national statue committee. That committee is not connected to this website, and we do not publish donor lists.
Sources
- Statue of Fannie Lou Hamer unveiled in MississippitheGrio, October 11, 2012
- Miss. statue unveiled for civil rights icon HamerAssociated Press via the Picayune Item, October 6, 2012
- Stockton professor donates statue of Fannie Lou Hamer to Atlantic CityDownBeach.com, October 10, 2023
- Fannie Lou Hamer historical markerHistorical Marker Database
We checked every date and name on this page against the sources above. If you find an error, write to contact@fannielouhamer.info.
Continue in the archive
- PlacesMemorial gardenWhere Fannie Lou Hamer is buried, what you will see at the memorial garden in Ruleville, the markers and statue there, and how to visit respectfully.
- PlacesRuleville guideA visitor's guide to Ruleville and Sunflower County, Mississippi, with the Hamer sites, Freedom Trail markers, distances, and the history behind them.
- Her lifeLegacy and honorsHow Fannie Lou Hamer is remembered, from the words on her headstone to the Voting Rights Act renewal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and places named for her.
- PeoplePatricia Reid-MerrittA short, sourced note on Patricia Reid-Merritt, a Stockton University professor of social work and Africana studies, and her public role in the Hamer statue.