In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

194 appendix Interview with Vergie Hamer Faulkner by Maegan Parker Brooks, July 14 and July 17, 2009 Vergie Hamer Faulkner is the second-oldest adopted daughter of Fannie Lou and Perry Hamer, who had no biological children of their own. In 1954, the couple began caring for five-month-old Vergie, who had been badly burned by a tub of boiling water and whose large biological family was unable to provide her with the attention and care she required. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Vergie was raised by the Hamers in Ruleville. She moved to Memphis in 1975, where she still lives today working as a cook for a local church. This interview is a transcript of two phone conversations recorded with Mrs. Vergie Hamer Faulkner, covering a variety of topics including heretofore unpublished information about her father, Perry Hamer, her older sister, Dorothy Jean, and her grandmother, Lou Ella Townsend. Aside from providing insight about the persons who comprised Fannie Lou Hamer’s intimate family circle, Mrs. Faulkner also offers an in-depth account of her mother’s influences, her personality, and an assessment of her lasting legacy. * * * Part I BROOKS: Well, I just wanted to start to learn a little bit about you. So, would you mind telling me a bit about what you do in Memphis and about what life is like there for you? FAULKNER: Well, I work every day. I cook. BROOKS: Where do you work? FAULKNER: I work at this church, it’s called Israel of God. BROOKS: Do you cook for them? FAULKNER: Yes, part of it is like a little restaurant. 195 Interview with Vergie Hamer Faulkner BROOKS: Do you have family there in Memphis? FAULKNER: Yes, all my children are up there but one. I am the mother of four children—two girls and two boys. Everybody’s up there, except for my baby—he’s in Mississippi; he’s in Ruleville. BROOKS: So, when did you decide to move from Ruleville to Memphis? FAULKNER: In 1975. BROOKS: And what made you want to leave Ruleville? FAULKNER: Well, it’s a long story. And I really don’t want to go into that. It’s a long story. My first husband and I—we wasn’t getting along too good. So, I decided to leave. BROOKS: Okay, and do you go back to visit that area much anymore, or do you pretty much stay around Memphis? FAULKNER: I go back, you know, because, I’m going to put it like this: it’s water under the bridge now. So, that being, it was just, it was a lot of heartache and I just told Mamma I had to get away. So, I moved to Memphis. BROOKS: And how did your mom take that? Was it hard for her to have you leave? FAULKNER: Nah, it really wasn’t hard for her, you know, because she knew the situation and a change did me all good. BROOKS: Did you still see her quite a bit after you moved to Memphis? FAULKNER: Well, no, I’m not going to say I did because, during the time, I didn’t have a job and I didn’t have transportation. So, I came up here and I stayed with my auntie. And then, you know, later on—well, it really; it was kind of, it was hectic. It wasn’t just peaches and cream; I’ll put it like that. I had good times and bad times, you know, but God knew that. Things worked out and eventually I did get a chance and I’d go back down there, but I didn’t go often because I was just ready to leave. And then something about—I moved back home after Mom died. I moved back in ’80 because Daddy had started getting sick and my auntie had called me and said I need to come home, you know. So, he wouldn’t listen to anybody. She said, “Bebe, you got to come back to get him to go back and forth to the doctor.” So, I came home; I moved home in ’80. I tried to stay there—day three, I decided I wanted to go back to Memphis; well, come back to Memphis and I stayed up here two weeks and went back and I stayed there till Daddy died. BROOKS: And what year did he pass in, was it ninety— FAULKNER: He passed away in May of ’92. BROOKS: So, you...

Share