It was the summer of 1962, and Fannie Lou Hamer decided to attend a protest meeting at Williams Chapel Church.

She met with people from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC.

The SNCC was trying to get African Americans in Mississippi to register to vote.

At that time, only 1.1 percent of African Americans were registered to vote in Sunflower County Mississippi.

After that meeting, Fannie Lou Hamer decided that she had to register to vote.

On August 31, 1962, Fannie Lou boarded a bus with 17 other people. They were on their way to register to vote.