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A fearless Mississippi sharecropper turned human rights activist, “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America Reframed Special” – Feb. 22 at 9 pm


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Acclaimed Series America ReFramed Launches Tenth Season with

Fannie Lou Hamer’s America

WORLD Channel’s documentary showcase opens with PBS co-presentation, moves to Thursday nights beginning February 2022

 

The award-winning documentary series America ReFramed, a co-production of WORLD Channel and American Documentary, Inc., launches its landmark tenth season with the world premiere of Fannie Lou Hamer’s America, a portrait of the fearless Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist. The season begins with a special presentation on PBS on Tuesday, February 22, 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. ET, followed by its broadcast on WORLD Channel on Thursday, February 24. This marks the weekly series’ move to its new Thursday time slot, with many titles available to stream beginning February 22 on worldchannel.org, WORLD Channel’s YouTube Channel and on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.

Fannie Hamer at 1964 National Democratic Convention.
(Original Caption) 8/25/1964-Atlantic City, NJ- Convention Hall. Mrs. Fannie Hamer, member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, was one of the exciting highlights of the National Democratic Convention. Here, she walks firmly toward the convention hall entrance, to which she and other members of her group were finally admitted.

The season premiere, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America, focuses on the incredible life of one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest leaders and the injustices that made her work essential. Airing during Black History Month, the film is produced by Hamer’s great-niece Monica Land and Selena Lauterer and directed by Joy Davenport. Other confirmed titles explore mental health, substance use, refugee experiences and transracial adoption, with community spotlights on the saltwater Geechee of Georgia’s Sapelo Island and intergenerational perspectives on San Francisco’s Chinatown. Additional programs to be announced, with year-round encore presentations on broadcast and streaming.

Fannie Lou Hammer playing with seven-month-old Lenora Aretha.
Foster mother to two children, Fannie Lou Hammer is photographed playing with seven-month-old Lenora Aretha. (G. Marshall Wilson/EBONY Collection)

“Fannie Lou Hamer’s America is a powerful film, one that illustrates the challenges and sacrifices so many faced in fighting for the right to vote,” said Sylvia Bugg, Chief Programming Executive  & General Manager at PBS.  “We are excited to work with WORLD Channel to bring this exceptional America ReFramed documentary, that highlights contributions of women of color both on screen and behind the camera, to audiences.”

Over the past decade, America ReFramed has received widespread acclaim which includes recent duPont-Columbia, International Documentary Association and News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations. An essential platform for diverse artists and audiences, the series is the recipient of the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, and has been honored by the Gracies, Imagen Awards, Kaleidoscope Awards, Asian American Journalist Association, Native American Journalists Association, The Association of LGBTQ Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists.

For more information and films, visit www.WORLDchannel.org.