FANNIE LOU HAMER: SONGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME

The 20th child of a Mississippi sharecropper family and a commanding voice of the Civil Rights Movement, Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977) stood tall against the brutality, indignities, and intimidation of implacable racism. She harnessed her mother’s gifts of song and plain-spoken wisdom to steel her fellow seekers of social justice, the cause to which she gave her life. Songs My Mother Taught Me, a re-release of limited-edition 1963 field recordings, breathes new life into Fannie Lou Hamer’s inspiring legacy and her uncompromising call for a righteous world.

47 minutes, 32-page booklet with photos. This recording is the eighth release in the Smithsonian Folkways African American Legacy Series, co-presented with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

1 Precious Lord
2 On Being a Sharecropper
3 Run Mourner, Run
4 City Called Heaven
5 All the Pretty Little Horses
6 I'm Gonna Land on the Shore
7 Oh Lord, You Know Just How I Feel
8 I'm Going Down to the River of Jordan
9 Jesus Is My Only Friend
10 Pick a Bale of Cotton
11 Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning
12 Walk with Me
13 This Little Light of Mine
14 Mass Meeting Speech
15 Certainly Lord
16 Woke Up This Morning
17 Amazing Grace