If the white man gives you anything - just remember when he gets ready he will take it right back. We have to take for ourselves.
Fannie Lou HamerWe didn't come all the way up here to compromise for no more than weโd gotten here. We didn't come all this way for no two seats, 'cause all of us is tired.
Fannie Lou HamerAfter we testified before the Credentials Committee in Atlantic City, their Mississippi representative testified also. He said I got 600 votes but when they made the count in Mississippi, I was told I had 388 votes. So actually it is no telling how many votes I actually got.
Fannie Lou HamerI got pictures of us and they would draw big red rings around us and tell what they thought of us. I got a letter said, "I have been shot three times throught the heart. I hope I see your second act." But this white man who wants to stay white, and to think for the Negro, he is not only destroying the Negro, he is destroying himself, because a house divided against itself cannot stand and that same thing applies to America.
Fannie Lou HamerYou can tell this by the program the federal government had to train 2,400 tractor drivers. They would have trained Negro and white together, but this man, Congressman Jamie Whitten, voted against it and everything that was decent. So, we've got to have somebody in Washington who is concerned about the people of Mississippi.
Fannie Lou Hamer