This obituary outlines the life of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer from her birth in 1917 until she succumbed to cancer on March 14, 1977. The obituary described her early life as a sharecropper and her evolution into one of the driving forces of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Her major political achievements and various awards are included, as well as the injuries and indignities she suffered as a result of her activism. The obituary concluded with a list of her surviving relatives, and a brief statement of tribute.