Posted on December 13, 2018
More than half a century of civil and human rights activism!!
Wow!
Today's famous birthday was born on this date in 1903. Ella Baker worked mostly behind-the-scenes organizing people against racism and sexism and even classism (discrimination based on economic class).
She worked alongside some way famous leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and W.E.B. Du Bois. She promoted grassroots organizing rather than having a few charismatic leaders that people applaud. And she went after sexism and classism within the Civil Rights Movement.
Here are a few of Baker's accomplishments:
- Baker worked as an editor on newspapers and news magazines.
- She became the national director of the Young Negroes' Cooperative League.
- She worked as a director of branches for the NAACP and helped form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
- Later, she worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and a education funding organization. She also helped organize a political party.
- Baker supported the Puerto Rican independence movement, spoke out against apartheid in South Africa, and was active within women's rights organizations. She even helped form a socialist political organization and worked with others to demand the release of activist and writer Angela Davis, who had been arrested for being a communist. (Davis represented herself in court and was found Not Guilty. Actually, being a communist shouldn't be against the law - but I digress!)
Soak up some Ella Baker wisdom...
Also on this date:
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