FANNIE LOU HAMER 1964 (interlude)

Excerpt from Fannie Lou Hamer's Testimony Before the Credentials Committee, Democratic National Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey - August 22, 1964

I was placed in a cell with a young woman called Miss Ivesta Simpson
After I was placed in the cell I began to hear sounds of licks and screams
I could hear the sounds of licks and horrible screams
And I could hear somebody say, "Can you say, 'yes, sir,' [?]? Can you say 'yes, sir'?"
And they would say other horrible names
She would say, "Yes, I can say 'yes, sir'"
"So, well, say it."
She said, "I don't know you wеll enough"
They beat hеr, I don't know how long
And after a while she began to pray, and asked God to have mercy on those people
And it wasn't too long before three white men came to my cell
One of these men was a State Highway Patrolman and he asked me where I was from
And I told him Ruleville and he said, "You are from Ruleville all right"
And he said, "We are going to make you wish you was dead"