Ella Baker

Ella Baker
Baker, 1964
Born
Ella Josephine Baker

(1903-12-13)December 13, 1903
Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
DiedDecember 13, 1986(1986-12-13) (aged 83)
New York City, New York, U.S.
EducationShaw University (BA)
Organizations
MovementCivil rights movement
Spouse
Bob Roberts
​
​
(m. 1938; div. 1958)​

Ella Josephine Baker (December 13, 1903 – December 13, 1986) was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than five decades. In New York City and the South, she worked alongside some of the most noted civil rights leaders of the 20th century, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr. She also mentored many emerging activists, such as Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, and Bob Moses, as leaders in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).[1][2]

Baker criticized professionalized, charismatic leadership; she promoted grassroots organizing, radical democracy, and the ability of the oppressed to understand their worlds and advocate for themselves. She realized this vision most fully in the 1960s as the primary advisor and strategist of the SNCC.[1][3] Biographer Barbara Ransby calls Baker "one of the most important American leaders of the twentieth century and perhaps the most influential woman in the civil rights movement".[3] She is known for her critiques of both racism in American culture and sexism in the civil rights movement.[4][5][6][7]

  1. ^ a b Robert, Pascal (February 21, 2013). "Ella Baker and the Limits of Charismatic Masculinity". Huffington Post.
  2. ^ "Tired of Giving In: Remembering Rosa Parks". Ella Baker Center. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Ransby, Barbara (2003). Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 6. ISBN 978-0807856161.
  4. ^ Dastagir, Alia E. "The unsung heroes of the civil rights movement are black women you've never heard of". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  5. ^ Kealoha, Samantha (April 18, 2007). "Ella Baker (1903-1986)". Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  6. ^ Elliott, Aprele (1996). "Ella Baker: Free Agent in the Civil Rights Movement". Journal of Black Studies. 26 (5): 593–603. doi:10.1177/002193479602600505. ISSN 0021-9347. JSTOR 2784885. S2CID 144321434.
  7. ^ James, Joy (1994). "Ella Baker, 'Black Women's Work' and Activist Intellectuals". The Black Scholar. 24 (4): 8–15. doi:10.1080/00064246.1994.11413167. ISSN 0006-4246. JSTOR 41069719.