“The Fannie Lou Hamer Story,” a one-woman musical starring Mzuri Moyo Aimbaye, will tell the story of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer and how her work helped lead to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
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The performance, presented by the Association of Black Professionals, Faculty, Administrators and Staff, will start at 6 p.m. Feb. 21 in the Arthur Miller Theatre. It features several songs and a video montage.
Among her many accomplishments, during the 1960s, Fannie Lou Hamer co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and testified in front of the Credentials Committee at the Democratic National Convention, where her speech shined a light on the abuse and violence African-Americans faced in the struggle to gain voting rights.
Leon Howard III, the association’s president and program manager for the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs, said the play is free and open to the public. Aimbaye also will host a workshop on healing through music on campus on Feb. 20, Howard said. Workshop attendees will learn a song, which they will then sing during a scene in Aimbaye’s U-M performance.
Howard said he got a chance to see a portion of Aimbaye’s performance and was inspired to bring the production to U-M.
“I was so moved and so impacted by the performance and by the power of her voice that I thought this would be a great event to bring to campus, particularly because … this is an election year and there’s been a lot of talk around voting, so it just was a natural connection,” Howard said.
