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An Episcopal, co-educational 100% boarding school in Middletown, Delaware for grades 9 – 12

Writer and Historian Dr. Keisha Blain Delivers Levinson History Lecture 
Emma Hunter ’25

Sharing the work of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, Blain encourages students to contribute to the fight for equity and inclusion

Names that come to mind when speaking about the Civil Rights movement include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, or Rosa Parks. On Friday, January 17th, Dr. Keisha Blain, a professor at Brown University, visited St. Andrew’s to deliver the Levinson History Lecture on a lesser-known but important woman who was also instrumental in advancing the cause of civil rights: Fannie Lou Hamer. 

Hamer was the subject of Blain’s Until I Am Free, the part social commentary, part biography, part history book Blain wrote in 2021 about the life of voting and women’s rights advocate Hamer. Earlier in the day, students in Dean of Teaching & Learning Emily Pressman’s AS American Social Reform class wrapped up their discourse on Until I Am Free in preparation for Blain’s visit. 

Levinson History Lecture featuring Dr. Keisha Blain in Jan 2025

Blain, a best-selling author and award-winning historian, is an MSNBC columnist, received the Guggenheim Fellowship and was an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, both in 2022. Prior to the talk, Blain signed books and visited with Saints at a dinner in the Warner Gallery. 

In addition to offering students an in-depth, intimate look into Hamer’s life, Blain spoke to the relevance of Hamer’s story today. Blain shared her experience in what it looks like to do the work of a historian, both the challenges and the work’s importance. 

Blain began her talk by telling students the story of  Hamer’s upbringing. She was the youngest of 20 kids growing up poor and malnourished on a plantation. As an adult, as she underwent the process of having a tumor removed, her doctor sterilized her without her consent. Her upbringing and this medical crisis would both inform her life’s work. 

In 1962, Hamer went to a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) lecture. There, she was not only inspired to opt into the fight for equality, but she also learned about her right to vote, a right that, in the state of Mississippi, was infringed via literacy tests and physical violence. Blain said this meeting inspired Hamer to “devote her life to bettering society.” Hamer often focused her message on empowering young people by visiting college campuses. “None of us are free until all of us are free” was Hamer’s rallying cry.

Pressman and Edmonds on stage at the Levinson History Lecture featuring Dr. Keisha Blain in Jan 2025

Hamer led protests, helped people register to vote, raised awareness about sterilization and medical malpractice, and uplifted the voices of others. She started the Freedom Farm in 1969, an agricultural co-op founded as a rural economic development and political organizing project that worked to combat hunger those in her county encountered; she said that “hunger has no color line.” Freedom Farm ended up serving more than 1,600 families. She advocated for the “American Dream” that America promised. After attending the Democratic National Convention in 1964, Hamer reflected, “We went there because we believed that America was what it said. It was the land of the free.” Hamer demanded that America start living up to the ideals which were promised in the Constitution.

Blain argued that Hamer is an example of someone with no formal education making a huge difference. She said that everyone has the power to contribute to the fight for equity and inclusion. “Hamer’s words offer guidance and direction,” Blain said. “We often wait for others to offer bold solutions and answers to the nation’s most pressing problems, but have we considered that the answer lies within us?”

At the conclusion of the talk, Blain sat down with Pressman and History Department Chair Matt Edmonds for prepared questions. They asked about the relationship between narrative and taking action. Blain responded that while one story is not reflective of others, it allows people to empathize. She said that Hamer got people interested by sharing her story, and then she would make her larger argument. By sharing narratives, people then are “co-owners of the trauma” and must become part of the solution.

When asked how to construct a narrative, Blain advised students to “let the sources lead” them. She says that the work of a historian or researcher can make you uncomfortable, particularly when you encounter sources that complicate your message. “There are times when you are confronted with these dilemmas … I also knew that if I was committed to telling the story, I couldn’t just tell what I liked,” she said.“I needed to tell the full story, even if it made me uncomfortable.” 

Levinson History Lecture 2025 featuring Dr. Keisha Blain

That discomfort, she noted, is also important for learning and being a part of a democracy. “Of course, yes, yes, you shake your head and everyone feels comfortable [when you speak with people who agree with you]. But is that really discourse?” Dr. Blain asked students. “If you’re just kind of saying something and everyone’s shaking their head, there isn’t too much back and forth, no one’s learning anything because you all agree … it’s very dangerous to be in a position in your life where you’re resistant to listening and potentially growing.” Grappling with this complexity will help the historian grow, she said. 

Later in the evening, the student section was opened up to questions. One student asked what young people could be doing currently in the fight for equity and inclusion. “You don’t have to start yourself from scratch,” Blain said, adding that change doesn’t have to be astronomical but small things that build up over time. “You can really connect yourself to people who are already doing that work and figure out how you can use your gifts and abilities to support that work.” 

David N. Levinson ’53 and his family endowed the Levinson History Lecture series so St. Andrew’s students could engage with experts in history, politics, economics, or related social-science fields. 

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