Libretto for Scenes Featured in the Southern Premiere of
“The Fannie Lou Hamer Story: A Civil Rights Opera”
1 – SHARECROPPER’S PRAYER
Sharecroppers have gathered in a cotton field in Mississippi to mourn the murder of Emmett Till. (1955)
Fannie Lou Hamer Speaks
O Lord
Have mercy Lord
Have Mercy.
Let us Pray; let us pray, let us pray.
Our Heavenly Father
We thank you for this day.
And with open hearts we pray
Lord give us strength;
Give us courage one more day
In times of wanton hostility,
In a deeply troubled Mississippi
Let us pray for Emmett Till
Let us remember Emmett Till.
Only Fourteen he was just a boy
Two killers chose a life to destroy,
And without a pittance of mercy
They’ve taken a mother’s joy.
So help us in our sorrow
as we struggle to forgive;
Watch over our anguished communities
let not the killers walk with impunity.
And finally, we ask
That when our work
on earth is done
and we come home to rest
Free of hate, free of fear,
suffering and pain,
Oh Lord,
Receive us into Heaven,
In thy name we pray.
A-men, A-men
2 – FREEDOM NOW
Fannie’s first meeting about voter registration. (1962)
Freedom now! Freedom now!
We want our freedom
Freedom now
Freedom now! Freedom now!
We want our freedom
Freedom now
Freedom now! Freedom now!
We want for our freedom
Freedom now!
Freedom now! Freedom now
We want our Freedom
Freedom now
3 – FANNIE AND PAP TALK
Fannie Lou Hamer tells Pap about the voter registration meeting.
PAP
Fannie Lou, how was the meetin’?
What happened?
FANNIE LOU
Pap, it was a good meetin’.
It was a night of hope.
For the first time
I feel hope that we can change our lives.
A group called SNCC is leading
A voter registration drive.
And the speaker said we can vote;
the United States Constitution
gives us that right
He said we need to get registered so we can
vote them mean white folks out of office.
If enough of us vote
we can put our own people in office!
Pap, I volunteered tonight
to be one of eighteen people
to go the County Courthouse
this Friday in Indianola
to try and register to vote.
PAP
Fannie Lou you ain’t got no business
Gettin’ involved with them Freedom Riders.
All they gonna do is get us killed!
FANNIE
I want to go, Pap.
PAP
You know them white folks
ain’t gonna let us vote!
Besides, what kind of man
would let his wife be in the streets
fightin’ white folks?
FANNIE
But Pap, we got to try!
votin’ COULD change things.
Ever since the state,
without my permission
sterilized me,
and took away my right
to give birth to my own flesh and blood
I’ve wanted to to fight Jim Crow laws;
laws that condemn
our people to lives of
misery and shame.
She reaches out and takes his hand. He pulls away from her agitated.
FANNIE
Pap, we got to stand up
And fight for our freedom.
(Pause)
And because I am a woman
I can fight in ways a Black man
dare not try in Mississippi
Tonight the preacher said
we got to step out on faith!
and trust the Lord to deliver us.
Pap, I feel the Lord callin’ me to do this
PAP
You know Dorothy ain’t in good health.
She sick all the time.
Remember what happened
to your Family
They ran you off your own land!
FANNIE LOU
Pap, hear me now,
this is something I got to do.
Its bigger than me and you.
PAP
I feel it in my bones
I know I can’t stop you;
Your head’s hard as stone
FANNIE LOU
Pap, this ain’t no surprise!
You knew my head was hard
When you married me
4 – FANNIE’S SONG
Pap tells Fannie he loves her for standing firm in her beliefs.
PAP
Fannie, oh Fannie
I guess that’s why I love you
beautiful strong headed Fannie
Who stands firm in her belief
Compelling, fascinating, woman,
Full of life, destined to lead
Fannie, Oh my sweet woman
You are the soul of kindness
With the heart of a saint
Without you
what would me and the girls do
I want you Safe at home
where none can harm you
But do what you gotta do
beautiful stubborn woman,
I guess that’s why I love you
I guess that’s why I love you
5 – FANNIE SPEAKS
Fannie recruits others to join the struggle for voting rights and the new integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
FANNIE LOU
We are asking you for
your help today–
to help us in this ongoing
struggle for justice.
I’m not asking you
to do something
I am not willing to do.
I know what it is to suffer;
to be poor, cold, hungry,
without warm clothing in the winter time,
or a warm house with indoor plumbing.
The bottom line is that we,
in our communities must organize
and become actively involved in
our destiny through the political process!
For that we have formed the
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
We want you to join the Party and
become active in the struggle for freedom.
We, the everyday hard working poor must
do the work to secure a future for ourselves
and the generations to come.
Thank You, and
God Bless You
6 – FANNIE IS BEATEN
The police beat Fannie severely causing permanent damage to her right eye, kidneys, and skin.
CHORUS
Eleven people
were thrown in jail that day
beaten badly.
they called her a troublemaker
They kicked her
they beat her in the head.
They cursed her and called her
a fat, black, nigger, bitch.
They beat her with a blackjack
Her kidneys were damaged,
her right eye was damaged,
and her skin turned hard, like a rock.
But the ghost of Emmett Till
would not let Fannie Lou Hamer
give up her fight for justice
Only death, she declared, could stop her.
7 – SICK AND TIRED
Fannie and Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegates head to the National Democratic Convention in Atlantic City. (1964)
CHORUS
The Freedom Party of Mississippi
Will have its day in Atlantic City.
The Convention should know
and we intend to show
that the Freedom Party
is the legal Party.
FANNIE LOU
To hear Senators Eastland and Stennis tell
“We’re all quite happy and getting along well.”
They say in Washington to the folks up there
Life is good, and they’re treatin’ us fair!
This week at the convention we will testify
to set the record straight and to clarify.
We want the folks up there to know
we are not satisfied, we are not satisfied.
In every way the State Party has blocked our progress,
cutting us off and shutting us out of the democratic process.
We want the world to know
We are sick and tired!
We are sick and tired!
We are sick and tired
of being SICK AND TIRED!!
8 – DOROTHY DIES
On a trip home, Fannie learns that her daughter Dorothy has died.
FANNIE LOU
Pap, where is Dorothy?
PAP
Fannie Lou, oh Fannie Lou
We done lost Dorothy!!
FANNIE LOU
Oh no! Not Dorothy!!
PAP
She’s gone!!
She’s dead
FANNIE LOU
No not our Dorothy!
PAP
I took her to the nearest hospital
FANNIE LOU
What happened?
PAP
and they refused us
Cause we black.
I drove her fast as I could
over to the next town
FANNIE LOU
Oh no!
PAP
but she was dead!
Before I could get her there
she was gone
FANNIE LOU
Oh no, not again!!
They let my child die!!
First they take my ovaries from me
So that I can’t bear my own children
Then they take my Dorothy
condemned to death
PAP AND FANNIE LOU
because of her race.
FANNIE LOU
Oh Lord, When will this evil stop?
PAP EMBRACES FANNIE AND THEY CLING TO ONE ANOTHER IN SHOCK AND GRIEF.
PAP
Fannie, oh Fannie my sweet Fannie Lou
FANNIE LOU
Hold me close, Pap
PAP
What have they done to us.
Fannie, I’m so sorry I tried to stop you
FANNIE LOU
I know, I know.
PAP
Now I understand
FANNIE LOU
Just hold me.
PAP
Don’t worry, my darling
We’re in this together, and
I’ll always be here for you.
9 – IS THIS AMERICA?
Fannie urges the Credentials Committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention to seat the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegation.
FANNIE LOU
If the Freedom Party is not seated today
I question America.
If the Freedom Party is not seated now
I question America
I question America
Is this the land of the free?
Home of the brave?
If the Freedom Party is not seated today
I question America.
I question America.
Is this the land of the free?
Is this the home of the brave?
If the Freedom Party is not seated today
If the Mississippi Freedom Party is not seated
I question America,
The home,
The home of the free and the brave
Is this America?
Where we sleep with our phones off the hook?
Because our lives are threatened daily!
When all we want is to live our lives
as decent Americans in America?
They shoot up our houses,
They burn down our churches,
They threaten to kill us,
They take away our jobs,
They evict us from our homes,
They beat us, they lynch us
They make our lives hell!
They make our lives HELL,
HELL, HELL!
Is this America?
10 – DELEGATES MEET
Fannie and the delegates discuss their strategy.
FANNIE LOU
We are getting strong messages
Of disapproval
from the Nervous Nellies,
and the Uncle Toms.
The party leaders
want us to keep a low profile,
accept their offer, go away
and let the Black “middle class”
lead the way.
And since we don’t agree with them
we are not going to bow to that.
CHORUS
No! No! No! No! No we won’t.
FANNIE LOU
While some of them was sitting in
Air conditioned offices,
And riding around
In big fancy cars
CHORUS
A-men, A-men, A-men!
FANNIE LOU
We were risking our lives
CHORUS
Yes we were, yes we were
risking our lives all day, all day
in the hot sun
FANNIE LOU
On back country roads
mile after mile in the hot summer sun.
We were working with the people every day
CHORUS
Every day, all day
we walked and we talked
All day in the summer sun
FANNIE LOU
We were working with the people every day.
CHORUS
Every day , all day we walked and we talked
All day in the summer sun
FANNIE LOU
Yes we did, yes we did!
CHORUS
Every day in the hot summer sun
FANNIE LOU
Lord knows
CHORUS
All day walkin’ and talkin’ with the people
FANNIE LOU
Yes we did, yes we did,
every day every one
everyone one of us
CHORUS
We have come this far by our faith
and we came here to expose
the corruption of Mississippi politics
FANNIE LOU
We’re here to tell the world!
We don’t need college degrees
to tell our own story!
We know who we are,
What we want
And why we want it!!
CHORUS
We are here to expose
to the convention and to the world
the corruption of Mississippi Politics.
FANNIE LOU
We know who we are,
What we want
And why we want it!!
CHORUS
We know what we want
FANNIE LOU
And we know why we want it
CHORUS
We know who we are,
We know what we want.
And we don’t need nobody else
to try to tell our story.
We know who we are,
We know what we want .
And we don’t need nobody else,
to try to tell our story!
FANNIE LOU
The Freedom Party
should be seated here today
11 – FANNIE IS HONORED
Fannie speaks at a ceremony in her honor years later.
CHORUS
Freedom Now
Freedom Now
We’re walking in freedom.
Freedom Now
Freedom now
We’re walking in freedom,
Freedom Now
FANNIE LOU
Until the freedom movement
came to Mississippi
I never had a reason to believe
to expect life would get better.
I had no more than a 6th grade education.
With little access to outside information
I thank God for the privilege
to work among you as one of you
for the upliftment of our people.
Today I am not working just for civil rights
but for human rights for all people,
for all humankind!
I want to leave you with a quotation
from the bible
as it speaks truth to us today.
“Put on the full armor of God
that you may be able to stand
against the schemes and cunning of evil.”
Put on the full armor of God
And know that
“Yes we can”
Then stand your ground.