"Until I Am Free": Book Talk on Fannie Lou Hamer, Civil Rights Activist w/ Historian Blain

Join the National Women’s History Museum as we welcome award-winning historian
and New York Times best-selling author, Keisha N. Blain, for a conversation about
her book, "Until I Am Free," on the life and activism of Fannie Lou Hamer.

Date and time: Sun, October 24, 2021 @ 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PDT

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/until-i-am-free-in-conversation-with-author-dr-keisha-n-blain-tickets-162854210327

ACCESSIBILITY: The NWHM strives to provide programs that are accessible to all visitors.
For questions, or to request accommodations such as an ASL interpreter or captioning,
please email history [at] womenshistory.org at least 7 days in advance of the program.


“We have a long fight and this fight is not mine alone, but you are not free whether you are white or black, until I am free.”—Fannie Lou Hamer

In "Until I Am Free," author Keisha N. Blain situates Fannie Lou Hamer as a key political thinker alongside leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks and demonstrates how her ideas remain salient for a new generation of activists committed to dismantling systems of oppression in the United States and across the globe.

The book explores the Black activist’s ideas and political strategies, highlighting their relevance for tackling modern social issues including voter suppression, police violence, and economic inequality.

A blend of social commentary, biography, and intellectual history, "Until I Am Free" is a manifesto for anyone committed to social justice. The book challenges us to listen to a working-poor and disabled Black woman activist and intellectual of the civil rights movement as we grapple with contemporary concerns around race, inequality, and social justice.


ABOUT: Dr. Keisha N. Blain

Dr. Keisha N. Blain is an award-winning historian of the 20th century United States with broad interests and specializations in African American History, the modern African Diaspora, and Women’s and Gender Studies. She is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh and the president of the African American Intellectual History Society. She is also a columnist for MSNBC, covering race, gender, and politics in historical and contemporary perspectives. She is currently a 2020-2021 fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University.

Blain has published extensively on race, gender, and politics in both national and global perspectives. She is the author of the multi-prize-winning book Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom (2018) and co-editor of To Turn the Whole World Over: Black Women and Internationalism (University of Illinois Press, 2019); New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition (Northwestern University Press, 2018); and Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence (University of Georgia Press, 2016).

Her latest books are the #1 New York Times Best Seller Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited with Ibram X. Kendi (Penguin Random House/One World, 2021); and Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America (Beacon Press, October 5, 2021).