Officials break ground on Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Park improvements

JACKSON, Miss. ( WJTV ) – Officials joined Mississippi Transportation Commission Chairman Willie Simmons on Tuesday to break ground on several improvements at the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden in Ruleville.

“I attended Mrs. Hamer’s memorial service on my birthday, March 20, 1977, at the Ruleville Central High School. On that day, I celebrated my 30th birthday while attending the ongoing memorial services of my shero, Fannie Lou Hamer. Today, 47 years later, I return to Ruleville as Transportation Commissioner of the Central District standing on Mrs. Hamer’s shoulders,” said Simmons. “We will further honor her by building a parking lot and sidewalk to improve her Memorial Garden. These improvements will enhance visitor and tourist visits to this phenomenal woman and her husband’s burial sites as they come to honor and show appreciation to her commitments to civil and voting rights.”

Simmons was joined by Ruleville Mayor Michael Clark, Sunflower County Supervisor Gloria Dickerson and other officials and family members of Fannie Lou Hamer. Work is already underway on the improvement project.

The project includes construction of an asphalt parking lot that will include handicap, bus and traditional parking spaces. It will also install a sidewalk from the new parking lot to the entrance of the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden.

After attempting to register to vote in 1962, Hamer was fired from her plantation job east of Ruleville. She would go on to become a civil rights activist, opening her Ruleville home to Freedom Summer workers and other activists. She earned a reputation as an electrifying speaker, especially as a delegate of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Hamer fought racism, injustice and poverty until her death in 1977.

The $606,000 contract was awarded to Phillips Contracting Company, Inc. Work is expected to wrap up by the summer.

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