Up next in 10
Aunjanue Ellis On Fannie Lou Hamer's Story & Playing Fannie Lou In Short Film | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Oct 13, 2022
Considered the midwife of the modern American Democratic Party, Mississippi civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer gives her impassioned testimony and a prophetic warning to the country. FANNIE is a riveting portrait of the human rights, voting rights, and civil rights icon and her ground-breaking speech in front of the Democratic National Convention's credentials committee on August 22, 1964. Starring Academy-nominated actress Aunjanue Ellis, this powerful short is directed by Christine Swanson.
Subscribe Here! http://bit.ly/SubscribeSU
Watch the Best of Sway In The Morning! http://bit.ly/BestOfSITM
Check out More From Sway’s Universe
http://swaysuniverse.com
http://twitter.com/swaysuniverse
http://instagram.com/swaysuniverse
http://facebook.com/swaysuniverse
#AunjanueEllis #Fannie #FannieLouHamer #SwaysUniverse #SwayInTheMorning #SiriusXM #Shade45
About SWAY’s UNIVERSE
Exclusive interviews from Sway Calloway and the Sway In The Morning/ SwaysUniverse.com team with some of today's biggest celebrities, like Kevin Hart, Kanye West, Eminem, Usher, Jessica Alba, Steve Aoki, Torey Lanez, Julia Stiles and so much more.
Aunjanue Ellis On Fannie Lou Hamer's Story & Playing Fannie Lou In Short Film | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/uQDSddimKrc
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
[Applause]
0:02
wow
0:03
easily one of the most powerful short
0:06
films you're gonna have to have a chance
0:07
to witness and I'm going to encourage
0:08
each and every one of you to witness it
0:10
Fannie Lou Hamer is being played by our
0:14
next guest DB I want to allow you to do
0:16
the honors of breaking down this royalty
0:19
we have in our presence please yes
0:21
please yes please we are welcoming her
0:24
for the first time but uh I think we can
0:26
all I speak for everybody here when we
0:28
say that we were pretty much Blown Away
0:29
by her performance in King Richard and I
0:31
was telling her outside in the hallway
0:32
what she was waiting that
0:34
um the Critics Choice Association uh
0:36
every year around award season they send
0:37
out all these gifts and stuff to all the
0:39
critics and members and they sent out a
0:42
photograph of the cast of King Richard
0:43
with Serena and Venus Williams as almost
0:45
like a family portrait so I had that
0:47
sitting on uh my windowsill uh in my
0:50
apartment and I forgot it today because
0:52
I was like yo she's coming I want to
0:54
bring it get a sign and my dumb ass left
0:56
it at home but you know that's not
0:58
neither here nor there but it was just
0:59
something to joke about while she was in
1:00
the hallway we have to give her praise
1:01
because she's an Academy Award nominator
1:03
Golden Globe nominated Emmy nominated
1:05
and she's just doing so many amazing
1:07
things with her career right now before
1:09
prior and after and when she's here talk
1:11
about like you just said sway Fannie Lou
1:12
Hamer in the short film Fanny please
1:14
welcome ingenu Ellis wow I better look
1:16
at God you better look at it come on
1:19
come on let's go turn your ears up
1:22
this ain't normal this ain't normal it's
1:25
not normal and we gotta recognize when
1:28
it's not normal
1:30
that's right I just want to say
1:33
my day after this
1:35
don't make me feel like I can like
1:37
levitate you can you are and you do this
1:40
right I watched um
1:43
Cuba Gooding Jr Robert De Niro Charlize
1:47
Theron and you and Men of Honor yeah
1:50
yeah and that was one of my favorite
1:52
movies and that's we're talking your
1:54
resume
1:55
is just so rich and robust uh that's
1:59
early 2000s you know Cuba Gooding Jr man
2:03
before we get into fanny can we ask you
2:05
about a few of these projects
2:08
okay
2:10
cool what was it like working with
2:12
Robert De Niro was he personable did he
2:15
stay in character or did you get did you
2:16
guys get to see each other on set
2:18
well you know you like black women
2:30
you know the levitator right back down
2:34
that ain't look at God not that part
2:36
okay
2:40
but what was that whole experience no I
2:42
I was you know I was in awe I gotta say
2:45
you know what I mean and I'm not I'm not
2:47
in awe much okay but he was and he's
2:50
earned that in his with his performances
2:52
you know I don't know about him as a man
2:54
I don't know about his life okay but I
2:57
know that his work is is
3:00
um you know has has paved the way in
3:03
terms of like how you do it in terms of
3:05
investment in terms of like leaving
3:06
yourself at the door and just fully
3:08
investing in character and that's why I
3:10
dig him so much and turn for his work uh
3:13
so I just kind of just stared at him and
3:16
tried you know try to pretend like I
3:17
wasn't staring at him yeah yeah so
3:19
that's what that was what about Cuba
3:21
Cuba Gooding Jr what was that like well
3:24
Cuba it was after it was I think it was
3:26
right after the after he won Alaska yeah
3:29
yeah yeah you know and so it's
3:34
interesting I've ended up working with
3:35
Cuba a couple times you know and I just
3:37
it was really my first big job to be
3:40
honest with you it was my first big job
3:42
George Tillman gave me that gave me that
3:44
chance yeah
3:46
um so I was a little bit I was a little
3:48
nervous I gotta say I was nervous about
3:50
it and Charlie's and it was a lot for me
3:53
and I was just trying to stay focused
3:55
what would it be in those situations if
3:57
you know hopefully I think that would be
3:59
everyone's dream to be find yourself on
4:01
the set with people you've idolized and
4:03
admire for so many years but you still
4:04
got to perform
4:06
what was your uh what helped you perform
4:10
what did you what did you reach to where
4:12
the nerves didn't get in your way of
4:13
your best performance well you know I'm
4:15
gonna be fully transparent you know I
4:18
I'm I wouldn't the actor the person the
4:21
person the woman I am now was I was like
4:23
that okay you know so I was easily
4:27
swayed not in a not in a good way okay
4:33
um so yeah you know so I think that I
4:36
was you know vulnerable to my
4:37
circumstances vulnerable to my
4:39
environment but I still as you said I
4:40
had a work to do I had work to do and I
4:42
did I did what I could at the moment you
4:45
know uh which I hope was enough but
4:49
um and I gotta say I didn't love acting
4:51
then in the same way that I have an
4:54
appreciation for it now so then it was
4:57
it was a job I think it's on I think
4:58
it's best that I'm honest about stuff
5:00
like that you know you know it was a job
5:02
and I had to perform a job and I was
5:04
around all these really famous people
5:05
and I had but I had a job to do uh but I
5:09
was a kid I was a kid you were a kid wow
5:13
man Andrew Ellis is with us right now is
5:16
so you have so many
5:18
colossal projects I wanna I wanna let's
5:20
get into Fannie Lou Hamer first though
5:23
because that's that's why we are here
5:26
um how are you approached about this
5:27
project well I approached myself okay uh
5:31
so I'm from Mississippi Mrs Hamer is
5:33
from Mississippi uh I lived in New York
5:36
for a while but I moved back home about
5:38
10 or 11 years ago and I needed us I
5:42
needed a North star I needed a guide for
5:44
how to live back there because I was a
5:48
caregiver I was trying to act I was
5:52
trying to fight the Confederates
5:54
um and I was trying to do all that and
5:55
maintain my sanity in Southwest
5:57
Mississippi and that's a lot to do yeah
5:59
like the Confederates
6:01
um and so I needed an example of how to
6:04
do that now you know I went to all kinds
6:06
of good schools and everything and some
6:08
bad but even in the good ones where I
6:10
majored in African-American studies I
6:12
did not learn one day did I learned
6:14
about Fannie Lou Hamer and Mrs Hamer is
6:17
arguably one of the most significant
6:20
figures in our political history hands
6:23
down period uh we just don't know her
6:25
because the story history is written by
6:27
men I'm sorry I know y'all are lovely
6:29
man around here but it's history it's
6:31
written by men and we retell those
6:33
stories and they don't make space for
6:36
how black women have shaped this history
6:38
as well so I didn't know about her I
6:41
found out about her through our
6:43
community Grapevine and she became my
6:46
North Star she became my guide in terms
6:48
of how to care for my people in my house
6:51
how to care for my community outside of
6:53
my house and how to fight these
6:55
Confederates that I had to fight every
6:57
day of my life I have I had to drive by
6:59
Confederate flags to go to the gym to go
7:02
to the bank to live my life y'all if
7:04
that if y'all what years are we talking
7:06
about witnessing Mississippi didn't take
7:10
the Confederate flag down until 2020. oh
7:13
that's right let's let's be real about
7:15
that so all of that I'm so I'm talking
7:18
about three or four years ago you know
7:20
what I mean and and to live my if if
7:23
y'all walked outside and saw a
7:25
Confederate flag outside Jordan y'all be
7:27
mad y'all be talking no it would be huge
7:29
yeah but nobody said nobody was it was a
7:32
it was a way of life down there that I
7:34
could not bear so I started doing things
7:38
to to to fight that
7:41
one of the things that I did the first
7:43
thing that I did was I paid for this
7:46
billboard on Highway 55 in Jackson
7:48
Mississippi where the folks don't have
7:49
good drinking water I paid for a
7:51
billboard and I had written we shall
7:55
overcome and I had it written in
7:58
Confederate flags
8:00
and it made people so cool
8:14
and it made people so mad black folks
8:18
and white folks were cursing me out oh
8:20
yeah because I was I was desecrating we
8:23
shall overcome oh interesting yeah okay
8:27
you know and and so I made everybody man
8:29
that's what I wanted to do because I
8:31
felt that there was a Sleeping Bear
8:33
there that needed to be that somebody
8:35
needed to shake
8:37
um anyway I said all that to say that
8:40
was the kind of work that Mrs Hamer was
8:42
doing she was fighting Confederates she
8:44
was taking care of these children none
8:46
of which were her own children because
8:48
she was deprived of having her own child
8:51
because a doctor castrated her against
8:54
her will and without her knowledge
8:57
so she was taking care of children she
8:59
was taking care of a community she was
9:01
fighting Confederates she was doing all
9:04
of that and I needed an example and Mrs
9:05
Hamer B ended up being that example for
9:07
me and then I said okay I'm gonna write
9:09
something about her nobody else would do
9:11
it so I needed to do it myself a couple
9:13
years ago I did this film called The
9:15
Clark Sisters movie directed by come on
9:17
yeah they just brought that up directed
9:19
by Christine Swanson and we just
9:21
developed this creative collaborative
9:23
relationship and I said Christine I got
9:26
to do something I just can't have it in
9:27
me I got to get it out of me so she was
9:29
like let's do a short film so she
9:32
applied for Grant through this
9:34
organization called chromatic black that
9:36
funds disruptive voices particularly by
9:40
black Voice by black folks films uh
9:43
short films they gave us ten thousand
9:45
dollars so this time last year uh we
9:48
used that ten thousand dollars and we
9:51
shot Fanny you shot Fanny for 10K okay
9:54
yeah man let's do some work
9:56
together
10:07
we hope we hope you should because and
10:11
listen whatever award we win I want
10:14
folks to hear Mrs hamer's words okay
10:17
because they are they are prophetic and
10:20
folks need to know and hear and hear her
10:22
seek live such a rough life too when you
10:25
watch it you'll find out some of the
10:27
consequences she had for standing up for
10:29
voters rights and some of the things
10:30
that happened to her uh when she was
10:33
behind bars and the way she was treated
10:35
and beat and assaulted by uh instructed
10:38
by police officers uh to have others
10:40
inflict this pain on her it's just such
10:43
a strong beautiful amazing story of
10:45
Fannie Lou Hamer make sure you guys
10:47
watch it and you keep this ain't just
10:50
something you talk about this is
10:51
something you do and I was follow I was
10:54
following you on Twitter and I saw you
10:55
speaking about the jlt fund speak to us
10:59
about what the jot fund is all about
11:01
well like I said Mrs Hamer lost her
11:05
ability to have children because some
11:07
some doctors said that she
11:09
she didn't deserve to have a say in her
11:12
own uh reproductive life
11:16
and that's no different from what has
11:18
happened over the summer with Roe v Wade
11:20
being overturned Mississippi is a full
11:23
abortion ban State ain't nowhere in
11:26
Mississippi that you can get there's no
11:27
kind of technical loophole nothing
11:29
there's no abortion clinics remaining in
11:33
the state of Mississippi
11:35
so
11:36
um I listen I Mrs Hamer is is wonderful
11:40
because she fought for voting rights but
11:42
what also made her wonderful is she said
11:44
all his voting rights in the world ain't
11:47
gonna help you ain't gonna help nothing
11:48
until this country sees me as a human
11:50
being yes yeah and that's what separated
11:53
her her rhetoric from her contemporaries
11:57
is because it wasn't just voting for her
12:00
because a voting voting is transactional
12:02
and any any party can tell you to vote
12:05
you know what I mean the Republicans can
12:07
say go vote you know what I mean voting
12:09
ain't enough is what I'm saying and for
12:11
Fanny voting was not enough she said You
12:14
Gotta See Me fully for my full Humanity
12:17
so her Reproductive Rights being
12:20
stripped from her was a stripping of her
12:22
Humanity this is what his Mississippi
12:24
was really honestly the Catalyst for all
12:26
this ish
12:28
so I have to fight against that and I
12:31
gotta do it who no matter who's in who
12:34
who is on the Supreme Court we still got
12:36
to do that we still got to fight because
12:37
it's not you know it's not con it should
12:39
never be contingent our our faith is
12:42
black people as black women cannot be
12:44
contingent on who's in office so I know
12:47
I got to do stuff outside of the system
12:49
so this fund that I've started jlt fund
12:52
45 is something I've started with my
12:55
sister Sasha Barnes and it really is to
12:58
help women who are pregnant
13:00
and who need assistance
13:03
um and they can uh email us at that
13:06
address and and we will help them
13:10
the misogynists won't win they won't win
13:14
my name is anjanu Ellis and I am a
13:18
citizen of the state of Mississippi if
13:21
you are pregnant and in need of help
13:24
contact us at jlt fund 45.
13:30
at gmail.com
13:33
that's jlt fund 45
13:37
at gmail.com the misogynists won't
13:44
win uh new Ellis is here with us today
13:47
big round of applause I know you saw in
13:49
King Richard um Fanny it's a new film BB
13:51
you want to jump in there real quick
13:52
yeah if you don't mind if you could talk
13:54
about the moment when Fanny was talking
13:56
but then President Johnson tried to
13:58
schedule a press conference to interrupt
14:00
her and it backfired really horribly he
14:03
didn't try he did okay yes he did he did
14:05
but then later on yeah yeah he did it
14:08
was interesting because he uh Dr King
14:12
spoke uh Aaron Henry spoke uh who was a
14:16
an executive of the NAACP uh uh chaplain
14:20
King who's a chaplain at tugaloo College
14:22
they all testified in front of this
14:23
credentials committee they were trying
14:26
to say that the Mississippi Freedom
14:28
Democratic party was a true
14:30
representative for the state of
14:31
Mississippi not this all white male
14:33
delegation that they had sent a son up
14:34
to New Jersey
14:36
so
14:37
um but when Fanny got up to speak
14:41
she started speaking
14:43
and all of a sudden the camera stopped
14:47
but she didn't know that she went
14:49
through her full speech telling a whole
14:52
story all these things that happened to
14:53
her she comes off the comes out of the
14:56
room and they tell her it wasn't aired
14:59
it wasn't aired Lyndon Johnson uh
15:03
through this press had this press
15:04
conference where he was talking about
15:06
the something anniversary of somebody
15:07
passing away
15:09
now he let all them people people all
15:12
them other people speak but when she
15:14
opened her mouth he said uh-uh no no and
15:19
he shut her up however look at God right
15:22
later on that night the networks aired
15:25
her testimony anyway and so the world
15:28
got to hear her they got to hear it it's
15:30
powerful Fanny people want to watch this
15:31
film how can they watch it what do they
15:33
watching well I think it's
15:35
not being a very good salesperson
15:40
rewind faith film works on Instagram
15:43
also it's on YouTube that's awesome on
15:47
YouTube on YouTube yes
15:49
um wow yeah man Anja new Ellis and I
15:52
know Heather got to go I just want to
15:54
give you the flowers like I will never
15:57
forget the day Missy Elliott called into
16:00
this show
16:02
to talk about The Clark Sisters and and
16:05
the film I believe her Queen Latifah
16:07
Mary J Blige had they were all producers
16:09
producers on the film and I just
16:12
remember it immediately took me back to
16:14
the Summers of Detroit where my great
16:15
grandmother you know we would spend time
16:17
and hearing this music from The Clark
16:19
Sisters I never even thought about their
16:22
mom never even knew who she was I was a
16:24
little girl
16:25
when I watched this film I was like who
16:29
is this woman I did not realize you were
16:32
the same woman from all of the films
16:34
like I got lost in watching you you
16:38
brought this woman to life for me and it
16:40
made so much sense fast forward King
16:43
Richard fast forward now to Fanny
16:46
God to me has just one of the gifts has
16:50
given you to be able to take these
16:52
powerful women and make them so
16:54
relatable to just put a face and a voice
16:56
on them finally for women that we just
16:59
knew so little about so I just wanted to
17:02
say thank you to you
17:03
I appreciate you and I will support you
17:06
forever
17:09
y'all go ahead and hug that's the end of
17:12
the movie anyway
17:14
yeah I just wanted to say that to you
17:18
thank you so much thank you so much
17:21
these women are they these women people
17:25
have tried to literally erase them
17:28
that's that's what I felt because I
17:30
don't I didn't know why I didn't know
17:32
them yeah the only thing I knew about
17:34
Serena and Venus moms that she sat in
17:36
the stand facts yo but you brought her
17:39
to life how did she feel about your
17:42
portrayal did she have us y'all have a
17:43
talk afterwards a little bit a little
17:45
bit she's a woman of words she says what
17:48
she wants to say when it's necessary and
17:50
she was utterly supportive of our film
17:53
and of and of me and I didn't need her
17:56
to say a whole lot to me I just I saw
17:59
her smile and I and I and I felt that I
18:02
had done right by her because she's one
18:04
of these women it's women this woman
18:07
created the play of Serena Williams and
18:10
was the our most significant tennis
18:12
player period ever though and she she
18:15
created her play
18:16
and nobody knows it just you that's
18:19
exactly what I thought about her oh
18:20
she's oh she's so nice
18:25
yes exactly no yeah thank you thank you
18:29
Ellis let's give her a round of applause
18:31
thank you for joining us this morning I
18:34
hope you enjoyed this day we didn't mean
18:36
to make you cry Heather did that I don't
18:38
know
18:39
[Applause]
18:41
thank you I do appreciate that I do I
18:45
never thought I'd be sitting here with
18:46
y'all
18:47
[Music]
18:49
I'll be watching y'all
19:08
you know uh be great stay great thank
19:12
you for what you give us thank you stay
19:14
staying stay on purpose we're here okay
19:17
stay intentional with it you have Plath
19:19
as long as we have platforms you have
19:21
platforms to talk about it okay I
19:22
appreciate y'all all right Andrew Ellis
19:24
y'all man what a great day going into
19:26
the weekend y'all stay on the right side
19:28
of positivity
#Arts & Entertainment