Learn about Fannie Lou Hamer, a voting rights activist whose vision for an inclusive political future laid the groundwork for the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
By Keisha N. Blain, an award-winning historian and professor and a member of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum's Committee of Scholars.
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![A black-and-white image of Diane Nash at the podium with men and a woman sitting on either side of her in chairs. Nash stands in the center of the image behind the podium labeled [L.R. HALL/ AUDITORIUM] speaking into the microphone.](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/Kuy2LaAg9Uz9ynyKCB-Jxg8r4VE=/400x300/filters:no_upscale():focal(1500x1029:1501x1030)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/fb/4b/fb4bbc2a-ca10-4d42-b515-9df84eb67a2e/diane_nash.jpg)
