Places
The Fannie Lou Hamer Institute at Jackson State University
What the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy is, how it began in 1997 and how it became part of Jackson State University.
In short
The Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy was founded in 1997 by scholars and civil rights veterans in Mississippi to teach young people the history of the freedom movement and encourage civic action. It later became the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO, based at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, where it works with the university's COFO Civil Rights Education Center. Its founders, honored by JSU, include political scientist Leslie Burl McLemore.
- Founded
- 1997
- Full name
- Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy
- Now
- Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO, Jackson State University
- Founders honored by JSU
- Martin Bennett, Michelle D. Deardorff, Jeffrey Kolnick, Leslie Burl McLemore, Thandekile Ruth Mason Mvusi
- Programs
- Exhibitions, tours, public programs, teacher institutes
- Location
- Jackson State University, 1400 John R. Lynch St., Jackson
Why was the institute founded?
It was created in 1997 to carry the lessons of the Mississippi freedom movement into classrooms and communities, using Hamer's name for a project about citizenship and democracy. Its founders were a mix of professors and movement veterans. Among them, Leslie Burl McLemore, a political scientist at Jackson State University, had been a SNCC organizer and an MFDP delegate in 1964; the SNCC Digital Gateway has a profile of him.
How did it become part of Jackson State University?
Over time the institute settled at Jackson State and joined with the university's COFO Civil Rights Education Center, taking the name Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO. Wikipedia dates the merger to 2014. Jackson State had reopened the COFO site on John R. Lynch Street as a museum and education center in 2011. The building stands in the neighborhood where the Council of Federated Organizations ran its state office in the 1960s.
What does it do?
Jackson State University News describes curated exhibitions, heritage tours, public programs, conferences and a summer institute for teachers studying the Mississippi movement. With federal Title III funding from 2013 to 2017, the university reports, it held 72 programs for 9,705 participants, hosted 134 visiting groups and gave 52 tours. The institute and its supporters also set up a $25,000 endowed scholarship for students in the university's College of Liberal Arts, matched by the JSU Development Foundation.
How can I visit or take part?
Contact Jackson State University's Margaret Walker Center, which runs the COFO center, about tours and programs. The university's COFO page said in fall 2026 that the center was closed for construction on John R. Lynch Street for the rest of the semester, so confirm before you travel. We are not affiliated with the institute or the university.
Why is this page called institute.html?
An earlier site on this domain used the address. We kept it so links still work, and we describe here the best-documented institute named for Hamer.
Questions readers ask
Is this site connected to the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute?
No. FannieLouHamer.info is independent. We describe the institute from public sources only.
What did the institute do from 2013 to 2017?
Jackson State University reports that with federal Title III funding it ran 72 programs for 9,705 participants in those years, hosted 134 visiting groups and gave 52 tours.
What is COFO?
The Council of Federated Organizations, the 1960s umbrella group for civil rights organizations in Mississippi. Jackson State reopened part of its old headquarters area as a museum and education center in 2011.
Sources
- Hamer Institute@COFO lauds founders, provide $25,000 endowed scholarship to JSUJackson State University News
- COFO Civil Rights Education CenterJackson State University
- Leslie B. McLemoreSNCC Digital Gateway
- Fannie Lou HamerWikipedia (founding year and 2014 merger)
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
- PlacesCenters in her nameCommunity and campus centers that carry Fannie Lou Hamer's name, from a grassroots cultural center in Ruleville to the Black Resource Center at UC Berkeley.
- PlacesCancer FoundationWhat the Fannie Lou Hamer Cancer Foundation is, why it carries her name, the screening and outreach it does in the Delta, and its headquarters in Ruleville.
- PlacesMuseums to visitMuseums in Mississippi and beyond that tell Fannie Lou Hamer's story, from the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson to the Amzie Moore House in Cleveland.
- Teach & rememberFree lesson planA free lesson plan for grades 6 to 12 built on Fannie Lou Hamer's 1964 testimony and other primary sources, with objectives, steps, questions and a rubric.