There are moments when the grand sweep of history takes one’s breath away. The ascension of the first Black woman in history to emerge as a major American political party’s presidential candidate is such a moment.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated congratulates our Divine Nine sister, Vice President Kamala Harris, on this momentous occasion. This historical moment is even more remarkable as it comes exactly 60 years to the day after Honorary Member Fannie Lou Hamer, a Civil Rights and political activist, delivered her powerful testimony during the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
Speaking passionately in a televised testimony to the DNC’s Credentials Committee, Hamer advocated for the right of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party – a multiracial coalition of Mississippians – to be seated at the convention. In painstaking detail, Hamer described the brutal physical and psychological abuse she had endured from Mississippi officials for her decision to assert her citizenship right to vote. Hamer framed her mission as an opportunity for the party to honor the sacrifices and affirm the humanity of all Black Americans who risked their lives registering to vote by giving them a well-earned seat in the party’s democratic process.
“…if the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America. Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off of the hooks because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?”
Despite the earthy eloquence of her plea, Hamer and the MFDP were not seated, though she was seated four years later at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Sixty years after Hamer’s historic stand, Black women play critical roles at the highest levels of the party that once denied our ancestors access to power. Not only does a Black woman top the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket, but longtime party leader Minyon Moore serves as the convention’s chair. Additionally, 21st National President Marcia L. Fudge, former Congresswoman and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, serves as co-chair of the DNC’s Credentials Committee, sitting in the seat of power that once locked Fannie Lou Hamer out.
No demographic in America’s great mosaic can out-work or out-organize Black women. With that in mind, Delta Sigma Theta and our members nationwide stand on the frontlines, fueled by fortitude, to do the work necessary to get out the vote during this critical election. In doing so, we honor the legacy of bravery and sacrifice exemplified by Soror Fannie Lou Hamer and the countless other Black women whose names weren’t recorded by history but whose work and leadership made this day possible.
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