Fannie Lou Hamer Townsend (1917-1977) was an American voting and women's rights activist, community organizer, and leader of the civil rights movement. In 1962, when she tried to register to vote, she was threatened, harassed, shot at, and assaulted by racists, including members of the police. She later helped and encouraged thousands of African Americans in Mississippi to become registered voters and helped hundreds of disenfranchised people through a variety of work programs. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 1964, and the Mississippi state senate in 1971.

She was also the vice-chair of the Freedom Democratic Party, which she represented at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Hamer also helped organize Mississippi's Freedom Summer and was a co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus.

Hamer died on March 14, 1977, aged 59, in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. US Ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young, delivered the eulogy at her memorial service. She was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. On January 4, 2025, President Joe Biden awarded Hamer the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously.