This Little Light of Mine

Augusta Hicks was a soldier in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. It was a non-violent movement, and a lot has been made of that, but its core principle was confronting injustice. As a consequence, those who joined accepted a life where violence could strike you at any moment, a life where your job would surely be taken away by the white people around you who objected to a simple right that most Americans have always taken for granted - the right to vote. It was a life that only a very brave person would willingly choose. Allthough Augusta Hicks is unknown today, she exemplifies what the Mississippi Movement was all about. She was also a friend of Fannie Lou Hamer, who became the national voice of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in challenging the all-white control of the Democratic Party in Mississippi during the 1964 Democratic National Convention and subsequently during the Congressional Challenge of 1965. This interview with Augusta Hicks starts in the field in Ruleville, Mississippi where Fannie Lou Hamer and her husband are buried. One of the things I understood after doing this inteview, was the importance of music in the Mississippi Movement. It gave voice to a people whose lack of education and knowledge of the outside world kept them in the economic slavery that continued long after the Civil War. The music brought democracy to Mississippi, a State dominated by white supremacy, a State that did not have real democracy until enough blacks had registered to vote that they could tip the balance against the white supremacists who long ruled Mississippi through prejudice, violence and fear. The filming: Kent Moorhead was the interviewer and camerman. The audio was done by Benny Walls. Kent Moorhead did this interview as part of a project with two other producers, Joan and Bob Sadoff. Forever Young Productions, LLC, Kent Moorhead's Mississippi company can be found here: www.foreveryoungproduction.com He now lives in Stockholm, Sweden, but frequently works back in Mississippi. His Swedish company can be found here: www.alltiettmedia.se You can contact Kent Moorhead at kmoorh@aol.com