We are trained from a young age to control our emotions, with socially sanctioned times to express emotion, refraining from physical displays of negative emotion. What happens when we’re stressed or tired? Strong emotions activate the sympathetic part of this system, but when we cry, the parasympathetic part is activated, making us feel better.Ĭurious Kids: Why do tears come out of our eyes when we cry? This network is made up of two parts: the sympathetic system (which activates our “fight or flight” response when we perceive danger) and the parasympathetic nervous system, which restores the body to a state of calm. Inside our brains, strong emotions activate the central autonomic network. Tears act as a physical indicator of our inner emotional state, occurring when we feel intense sadness or intense joy. Tears serve multiple psychological functions. You may indeed feel sad about being sick or tired, but why the tears? Why can’t you hold things together? Or maybe you are struck with a cold or the coronavirus and the fact your partner used up all the milk just makes you want to weep. Her sweet, compassionate spirit won’t be forgotten.Īs we celebrate African-American history, let us not forget Hamer’s contributions, as well as the contributions of so many other African-Americans towards a more united and accepting country.It’s been a big week and you feel exhausted, and suddenly you find yourself crying at a nice nappy commercial. Hamer dedicated her life to fighting prejudice, discrimination and oppression. Years later, she founded Freedom Farms Corporation, a land cooperative that provided poor farmers with land to farm, live on and eventually purchase. While she was blocked from appearing on the ballot, she went on to appear at rallies and spoke to college students around the U.S.Īlong with her political activism, Hamer dedicated her time assisting the poor in her community by testifying before the Senate’s Subcommittee on Poverty in 1967. Hamer’s activism expanded when she ran for Congress in the Mississippi Democratic primary in 1964. Hamer’s moving testimony contributed to the DNC changing the rules in 1968 to require equal representation of state delegations at national party conventions. On national television, her testimony depicted voter discrimination, violence against herself and other African-Americans in Mississippi. She continued as a voice for the civil rights struggle in Mississippi when the MFDP challenged the legitimacy of the all-white state delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. She went on to help register other African-American voters in her community and soon took her fight for civil rights to the national stage.Īt the time, the Mississippi Democratic Party excluded African-Americans, so Hamer aided in founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964. In June 1963, Hamer and other activists were beaten by police officers, but she did not let the scars keep her from fighting. In 1962, Hamer became a field-secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and with determination, successfully registered to vote. Her activism garnered threats, and she almost lost her job however, she was not deterred.
During one attempt to register to vote she, and others, were stopped by police, arrested and beaten. The attempt was unsuccessful because of the infamous literacy tests. When Hamer learned that African-Americans had the right to vote she volunteered to take the trip to Indianola, Mississippi, to register. She met her husband, Perry Hamer, on the plantation where she worked. As the youngest of 20 children, she was a sharecropper most of her life. 6, 1917, in Montgomery County, Mississippi. Hamer emerged as an active participant during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. “I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.” These were famous words spoken by a courageous, passionate and determined Fannie Lou Hamer.
90th Missile Wing Equal Opprotunity Office.