Strange Country Ep. 198: Fannie Lou Hamer

Strange Country

Britney Spears conservatorship got Kelly and Beth thinking about the ways society tries to clamp down on women's bodies. Because of Kelly's feeblemindedness, she forgot that Beth already covered the forced sterilization of Carrie Buck, but lucky for her--is lucky the right word?--there are a ton of forced sterilizations to choose from. Listen to the story of one such woman Fannie Lou Hamer who turned her trauma into activism.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

“About the Film.” Bellyofthebeastfilm.com, www.bellyofthebeastfilm.com/about.

Brown, DeNeen L. “Civil Rights Crusader Fannie Lou Hamer Defied Men - and Presidents - Who Tried to Silence Her.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 12 June 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/06/civil-rights-crusader-fannie-lou-hamer-defied-men-and-presidents-who-tried-to-silence-her/.

Buck v Bell, www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/274us200.

Cleghorn, Elinor. “The History of Coercion Dressed Up As Care Is a Long One.” Vogue, 25 June 2021.

democracynow. YouTube, YouTube, 17 Mar. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=acVPt1qr5MY.

“Fannie Lou Hamer.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 June 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Lou_Hamer.

Mills, Kay. This Little Light of Mine: the Life of Fannie Lou Hamer. The University Press of Kentucky, 2007.

Naftulin, Julia. “Inside the Hidden Campaign to Forcibly Sterilize Thousands of Inmates in California Women's Prisons.” Insider, Insider, 24 Nov. 2020,

Pearce, Jessica, et al. “Mississippi Appendectomies: Reliving Our Pro-Eugenics Past.” Ms. Magazine, 28 Oct. 2020, msmagazine.com/2020/10/28/ice-immigration-mississippi-appendectomies-usa-eugenics-forced-coerced-sterilization/.

www.insider.com/inside-forced-sterilizations-california-womens-prisons-documentary-2020-11.