Sunflower County, Mississippi
Deep in the Mississippi Delta, Ruleville was a tiny town located in Sunflower County. Black people made up the majority of Sunflower County’s population, working mostly as sharecroppers and tenant farmers on white-owned land. SNCC arrived in Ruleville in 1962 as part of its expanding presence in the Delta. SNCC field secretaries worked closely with local leaders to organize a voter registration project. Fannie Lou Hamer emerged as a leader of the local Movement and stood before the nation at the Democratic National Convention in 1964 as a delegate of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP).
