Grant will expand Fannie Lou Hamer Digital Driving Tour

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RULEVILLE – A nonprofit that supports organizations that advance social justice is enabling the expansion of the Fannie Lou Hamer Digital Driving Tour as the country commemorates the 109th anniversary of the civil rights icon’s birth.

The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation awarded $25,000 to the “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” project to support research and the production of 12 new tour stops and multimedia resources, highlighting historic locations connected to Hamer’s grassroots organizing, voting rights work, civic participation, food justice and community empowerment.

Each location will include short documentary-style videos, archival audio, historical photographs, news articles and immersive digital resources that make Hamer’s story more accessible.

The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation earlier invested in the award-winning documentary film “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” that aired on PBS and WORLD Channel in 2022 and supported community engagement.

“Monica Land’s acclaimed documentary film ‘Fannie Lou Hamer’s America’ helped bring her aunt Fannie Lou’s story to national audiences through rare archival footage and speeches,” Foundation President and CEO Jonathan Logan said in a news release. “The driving tour is the perfect complement to the film, allowing even more people to learn about the people and places that shaped Hamer’s life and work.”

The original 10-location driving tour was part of the film’s “Find Your Voice” K-12 curriculum. Land and videographer and editor Tommy Kirkpatrick of CommonHouse Productions produced a relaunched tour in August with 12 short videos featuring archival footage, photographs and historical materials with sites in Mississippi and Atlantic City.

The driving tour is available on the film’s website and features additional resources, and their YouTube Channel.

Born on a plantation in rural Mississippi on Oct. 6, 1917, Fannie Lou Hamer was a voting rights advocate, humanitarian and community organizer who became one of the most powerful voices of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Logan Foundation supports organizations that advance social justice through investigative journalism, documentary film and arts and culture.

The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation is a Mississippi Today donor.