VSU Introduces South Georgia to Fannie Lou Hamer with One-Woman Play Feb. 22

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University presents “The Fannie Lou Hamer Story: Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 22, in Whitehead Auditorium. Admission to this award-winning one-woman play is free of charge and open to the public.

Written and performed by the talented Mzuri Moyo Aimbaye, “The Fannie Lou Hamer Story” celebrates the unsung hero whose brave struggle for human dignity and freedom became a catalyst for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As part of its Voice of the Empowered (VOTE) 2022 Edutainment Tour, the show also promotes voting in the upcoming midterm elections.

Aimbaye said Fannie Lou Hamer, who grew up in the 1920s on a Mississippi sharecropping plantation, made huge sacrifices to defend American democracy” and was “a warrior in the fight for voting and civil rights.” Hamer was the youngest of 20 children.

Audiences are sure to enjoy Aimbaye’s storytelling abilities, mellifluous voice, and commanding stage presence as she takes them on a journey through Hamer’s early life and the struggle’s she encountered while fighting for the right to vote. The play features intimate conversations and 12 emotionally moving songs.

Djehuty Se Hotep from “The Fannie Lou Hamer Story” production team said, “Black history is American history, and we have a duty to make sure our children and grandchildren know our struggle. Mzuri created this play after being moved by footage of Hamer’s truthful account of voter registration suppression and brutal jailhouse beatings. Mzuri knew that she needed to find a way to give an oral rendition of Hamer’s testimony that would create the same emotion, authority, and call to action to vote that Hamer did.”

“The Fannie Lou Hamer Story” is directed by Byron C. Saunders and produced by Healing Through the Sound of Music, a social impact music and theatre company.    

Whitehead Auditorium is located in VSU’s Fine Arts Building at the intersection of Oak Street and Brookwood Drive. Parking is available in the Oak Street parking lot.

“The Fannie Lou Hamer Story” is presented by VSU’s Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion in collaboration with VSU’s College of the Arts, Copeland African American Museum, Student Government Association, and Office of Housing and Residence Life. It is part of the university’s celebration of Black History Month.

On the Web:

https://www.thefannielouhamerstory.com/