People
Maegan Parker Brooks: a scholar of Hamer's speeches
A short, sourced note on scholar Maegan Parker Brooks and her published work on Fannie Lou Hamer, from the 2011 collected speeches to the 2022 documentary.
In short
Maegan Parker Brooks is a communication scholar who wrote her doctoral dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a rhetorical biography of Fannie Lou Hamer. She co-edited The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It Is (2011) with Davis W. Houck, wrote A Voice That Could Stir an Army (2014) and Fannie Lou Hamer: America's Freedom Fighting Woman (2020), and her collected recordings of Hamer's speeches made the 2022 documentary Fannie Lou Hamer's America possible.
- Field
- Rhetoric and civic communication
- Ph.D.
- Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Position (2023)
- Associate Professor, Willamette University
- Books
- Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer (2011, co-ed.); A Voice That Could Stir an Army (2014); America's Freedom Fighting Woman (2020)
What has she published about Hamer?
Her work centers on how Hamer spoke and how her words persuaded people. With Davis W. Houck she edited The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It Is (University Press of Mississippi, 2011), the standard collection of Hamer's speeches and testimony. Her study A Voice That Could Stir an Army: Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rhetoric of the Black Freedom Movement (University Press of Mississippi, 2014) was named an Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Fannie Lou Hamer: America's Freedom Fighting Woman (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020) is a short biography in the Library of African American Biography series.
What was her role in the 2022 documentary?
The recorded speeches she gathered for her dissertation became the soundtrack of Fannie Lou Hamer's America, which tells Hamer's story only in her own voice. The university reports that Brooks shared the recordings with Hamer's niece Monica Land, who envisioned the film, and worked with Houck and director Joy Davenport. The film won the International Documentary Association's Best TV Documentary award in 2022.
Why is she on this site?
This address was used for a page about her on an earlier site on this domain, and her books are among the sources we rely on. As a living person, she is described here only through her published work.
Questions readers ask
Which Brooks book should I read first?
For Hamer's own words, The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer (2011). For a short modern biography, Fannie Lou Hamer: America's Freedom Fighting Woman (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).
Sources
- Communication Arts alumna Dr. Maegan Parker Brooks' research leads to best TV documentary awardUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison, Communication Arts, February 2023
- The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It IsUniversity Press of Mississippi, 2011
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
- Teach & rememberBooks and filmsA reading and viewing list on Fannie Lou Hamer: biographies, her collected speeches, children's books, the 2022 documentary, plays and music made in her honor.
- Teach & rememberTrusted sourcesA curated list of reputable archives, encyclopedias, museums, recordings and books for researching Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi freedom movement.
- Teach & rememberGuide for organizersPractical advice for schools, churches and groups planning a Fannie Lou Hamer event: checking quotes, dates and photos, crediting sources and respecting Ruleville.