Finding the perfect theme song is almost impossible, until you stumble on Folds Band’s “Don’t Kid Yourself, Baby,” a funk-infused tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer, the civil rights legend who could turn a microphone into a movement. Band member Seth Moskowitz discovered her fire-breathing 1969 speech from the Vietnam Moratorium at UC Berkeley, and the rest is soul-shaking history. Hamer didn’t just fight voter suppression in Mississippi; she faced beatings, threats, and still showed up to shake the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Her voice, now echoing through basslines and protest chants, proves that politics is everywhere—in your playlists, your power, and your daily hustle. Tune in for a story that hits hard, grooves deeper, and reminds us that speaking up is always on beat.
This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT.
Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.
Resources For Fellow Wascally Wabbits
Books
Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America byKeisha N. Blain
Links
1961 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 1 (University of Maryland School of Law, 1962)
1960 Census: Population, Supplementary Reports: Per Capita and Median Family Income in 1959, for States, Standard Metropolitan Areas, and Counties (United States Census Bureau, 1965)
Civil Rights Excerpts from the 1961 United States Commission on Civil Rights Report (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1961)
Fannie Lou Hamer (FBI The Vault, FBI)
Fannie Lou Hamer and the Fight for Voting Rights by Keisha N. Blain (Blog, Smithsonian American Women’s History, Smithsonian, 2024)
Fannie Lou Hamer: Civil Rights Activist by Kay Mills (Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Historical Society, 2015)
Fannie Lou Hamer survived a prison beating, taught black people their rights and stood up to a president by Jamie Gass (The Hechinger Report, 2017)
MFDP Challenge at Democratic National Convention (Digital SNCC Gateway, Duke University Libraries)
Pioneers in the Black Women’s Suffrage Movement: Fannie Lou Hamer (News, League of Women Voters of California
Remarks regarding Mississippi economics, May 30, 1964 (Civil Rights Movement Archive, Duke University Libraries, 1964)
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court by Michael Li (Research Reports, Brennan Center for Justice, 2025)
Stunned By Her Thunder: Fannie Lou Hamer by Jennifer Davis (Blogs, In Custodia LegisLaw Librarians of Congress, Library of Congress, 2021)
The Sweat and Blood of Fannie Lou Hamer by Rosalind Early (Humanities, The Magazine of The National Endowment for the Humanities, Winter 2021)
Testimony Before the Credentials Committee, Democratic National Convention (Say It Plain, American Public Media, 2018)
Support
It’s free, it’s fast, and it tells the algorithm overlords this work matters. Supporting The Persistence means supporting all of it: the podcast, the posts, the zine, the whole enchilada.
Send a post or an episode to a friend, a professor, or that cousin who loves debating politics at dinner.
One quick Apple Podcasts review does more than any marketing budget I don’t have.
Every coffee, every donation (and paid subscription) literally keeps the mic on and the stories flowing.
Collaborate (let’s dream bigger): Educators? Creative? Filmmaker/Podcaster? Org with a mission? Let’s talk.
Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and share your thoughts with Angélica by emailing wearethepersistence@gmail.com.
Don’t forget to sign up for host Angélica Cordero’s newsletter, Obsessively Curious!! It includes short insights that connect unlikely histories, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show.
