--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I met one child there eleven years old…" description: "\"I met one child there eleven years old, speaking three languages [in Guinea]. He could speak English, French and Malinke. Speaking my language actually..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6ef/fannie-lou-hamer-3999_america_i-met-one-child-there-eleven-years-old-s_78966.png" --- # I met one child there eleven years old, speaking three… ![“I met one child there eleven years old, speaking three languages [in Guinea]. He could speak English, French and Malinke. Speaking my language actually better than I could. And this hypocrisy - they tell us here in America [ that black people can't be intelligent].” quote by Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6ef/fannie-lou-hamer-3999_america_i-met-one-child-there-eleven-years-old-s_78966.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6ef/fannie-lou-hamer-3999_america_i-met-one-child-there-eleven-years-old-s_78966.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6ef/fannie-lou-hamer-3999_america_i-met-one-child-there-eleven-years-old-s_78966.png) > “I met one child there eleven years old, speaking three languages \[in Guinea\]. He could speak English, French and Malinke. Speaking my language actually better than I could. And this hypocrisy - they tell us here in America \[ that black people can't be intelligent\].” [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A child in Guinea, fluent in multiple languages and surpassing the speaker's own proficiency, challenges stereotypes about Black intelligence in America. **In simple terms:** Multilingual child disproves racial stereotypes. Key Takeaway Language ability counters prejudice. Themes identity stereotypes education cultural diversity racial bias Mood defiant hopeful reflective Type anecdotal social commentary inspirational When to use this quote - educational settings - cross‑cultural encounters - media narratives - policy discussions Key Concepts language proficiency racial prejudice cultural perception Practical Applications - diversity training - anti‑bias curricula Questions to Reflect On - How does early multilingual exposure affect perceptions of intelligence? - What role do personal anecdotes play in confronting stereotypes? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Black people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-people/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Guinea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guinea/) [Hypocrisy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hypocrisy/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) ## Related quotes > [Growing up biracial and speaking four languages - French, Chinese, Portuguese, and English - gave me a different lens. I was always very acutely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-chai-vasarhelyi/growing-up-biracial-and-speaking-four-languages-french-chinese/) [Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-chai-vasarhelyi/) > [A special skill, like speaking several languages, or keeping your mouth shut in one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-esar/a-special-skill-like-speaking-several-languages-or-keeping-your-mouth/) [Evan Esar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-esar/) > [Speaking two languages fluently makes each language not so important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arca/speaking-two-languages-fluently-makes-each-language-not-so-important/) [Arca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arca/) > [Many accents and languages is part of myself has definitely played an important role in who I am today as an actor. I feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/massimo-dobrovic/many-accents-and-languages-is-part-of-myself-has-definitely-played-an/) [Massimo Dobrovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/massimo-dobrovic/) > [I grew up speaking both languages, and for me that's really important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-secada/i-grew-up-speaking-both-languages-and-for-me-that-s-really-important/) [Jon Secada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-secada/) > [People come from around the world and can understand each other without even speaking the same languages!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergei-bubka/people-come-from-around-the-world-and-can-understand-each-other/) [Sergei Bubka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergei-bubka/) > [My sister and brother and I grew up speaking both languages - French to our father and English to our mother. But when we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/princess-stephanie-of-monaco/my-sister-and-brother-and-i-grew-up-speaking-both-languages-french-to/) [Princess Stephanie of Monaco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/princess-stephanie-of-monaco/) > [I often note that my accent is a result of reading, writing, and speaking in three languages, something that immigrants across our nation understand.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-steel/i-often-note-that-my-accent-is-a-result-of-reading-writing-and/) [Michelle Steel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-steel/) > [Not only have we paid the price with our names in ink, but we have also paid in blood. And they can't say that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/not-only-have-we-paid-the-price-with-our-names-in-ink-but-we-have/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [Now many things are beginning to come out and it was truly a reality to me when I went to Africa, to Guinea. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/now-many-things-are-beginning-to-come-out-and-it-was-truly-a-reality/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [The President of Guinea, Sekou Toure, came to see us on the 13th. Now you know, I don't know how you can compare this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/the-president-of-guinea-sekou-toure-came-to-see-us-on-the-13th-now/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [When I got on that plane, it was loaded with white people going to Africa for the Peace Corps. I got there and met…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/when-i-got-on-that-plane-it-was-loaded-with-white-people-going-to/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [North Korea and South Korea speak the same language, and actually, we are the same country.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/park-ji-sung/north-korea-and-south-korea-speak-the-same-language-and-actually-we/) [Park Ji-sung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/park-ji-sung/) > [“A man's most vivid emotional and sensuous experience is inevitably bound up with the language that he actually speaks. (New Bearings in English Poetry)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-man-s-most-vivid-emotional-and-sensuous-experience-is-inevitably/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [For a pragmatist like me, the important issues concern the words we might deploy to achieve our purposes, rather than the language we actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/for-a-pragmatist-like-me-the-important-issues-concern-the-words-we/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) ## More by Fannie Lou Hamer > [We have to build our own power. We have to win every single political office we can, where we have a majority of black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/we-have-to-build-our-own-power-we-have-to-win-every-single-political/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [You know what really made me sick? I was in Washington, D.C. at another time reading in a paper where the U.S. gives Byron…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/you-know-what-really-made-me-sick-i-was-in-washington-d-c-at-another/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [It was the 31st of August in 1962 that eighteen of us traveled twenty-six miles to the county courthouse in Indianola to try to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/it-was-the-31st-of-august-in-1962-that-eighteen-of-us-traveled-twenty/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/i-am-sick-and-tired-of-being-sick-and-tired/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [ ... some of my people could have been left \[in Africa\] and are living there. 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People have been put in the river year after year,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/the-mississippi-is-not-the-only-river-there-s-the-tallahatchie-and/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [I was in jail when Medgar Evers was murdered and nothing, I mean nothing has been done about that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/i-was-in-jail-when-medgar-evers-was-murdered-and-nothing-i-mean/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [“Whether you have a Ph. D. or no D. we're in this bag together.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/whether-you-have-a-ph-d-or-no-d-we-re-in-this-bag-together/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [What I really feel is necessary is that the black people in this country wil have to upset this apple cart. We can no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/what-i-really-feel-is-necessary-is-that-the-black-people-in-this/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [One day I know the struggle will change. There's got to be a change-not only for Mississippi, not only for the people in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/one-day-i-know-the-struggle-will-change-there-s-got-to-be-a-change/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [A black woman's body was never hers alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/a-black-woman-s-body-was-never-hers-alone/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [With the people, for the people, by the people. I crack up when I hear it; I say, with the handful, for the handful,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/with-the-people-for-the-people-by-the-people-i-crack-up-when-i-hear/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [if I fall, I will fall five-feet four-inches forward in the fight for freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/if-i-fall-i-will-fall-five-feet-four-inches-forward-in-the-fight-for/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) [Explore all 118 Fannie Lou Hamer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) ## More America quotes > [The costs of the Bush-Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now estimated to run as high as $4.4 trillion - a major victory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-costs-of-the-bush-obama-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-are-now/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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Thank you America. \[salutes\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/i-ll-smoke-i-ll-cough-i-ll-get-the-tumors-i-ll-die-deal-thank-you/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [America is a democracy and has no Hitler, but I am afraid for her future; there are hard times ahead for the American people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/america-is-a-democracy-and-has-no-hitler-but-i-am-afraid-for-her/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [I'm gonna bring America together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-m-gonna-bring-america-together/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [We need a system that serves our needs, not the needs of others. 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