Civil Rights

Black and white print photo of Fannie Lou Hamer. Hamer is wearing a white sleeveless top and a dark colored skirt, leaning on a table before an audience.

Black and white print photo of Fannie Lou Hamer speaking in Holmes County, taken by Susan Sojourner, circa 1960s.

After Sue and her husband married, they moved to Holmes County, Mississippi and worked for the next five years alongside the local Black community. Henry was originally there working on a community health project, but the two quickly became involved in the local civil rights struggle. Sue documented their entire stay, conducting interviews with local leaders and documenting the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Towards the end of their stay, Sue took photographs of the many individuals involved with the civil rights movement in Holmes County, along with other locals.

Black and white photo of an exhibit in an indoor atrium about 1960s Holmes County, Mississippi and the civil rights movement, taken by Susan Sojourner. There are people gathering around a table in the background.<br />
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There is a hanging banner that reads "The Some People Of That Place. 1960s Holmes County, Mississippi: The Local Black People and Their Civil Rights Movement."

Black and white photo of an exhibit about 1960s Holmes County, Mississippi and the civil rights movement, taken by Susan Sojourner at Georgetown University, February 15, 2002.

She later went on to create two exhibits based on the interviews, photographs, and writings based on the people of Holmes County: "THE SOME PEOPLE OF THAT PLACE: 1960s Holmes Co., Mississippi — The Local Black People and Their Civil Rights Movement" and "GOT TO THINKING...How the Black People of 1960s Holmes Co., Mississippi Organized Their Civil Rights Movement". Sue also worked with Cheryl Reitan to write Thunder of Freedom: Black Leadership and the Transformation of 1960s Mississippi which was published in January 2013.