Ella Baker Biography (1903–1986)
Civil rights leader Ella Baker helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
Who Was Ella Baker?
Ella Baker became one of the leading figures of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s. Following her early work for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, she was among the founders of Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Three years later, she helped launch the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
Early Life and Education
Born in Norfolk, Virginia, on December 13, 1903, Baker grew up in rural North Carolina. She was close to her grandmother, a former slave, who told Baker many stories about her life, including a whipping she had received at the hands of her owner. A bright student, Baker attended Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, graduating class valedictorian in 1927.
YNCL and NAACP
After moving to New York City in the late 1920s, Baker joined the Young Negroes Cooperative League (YNCL), which allowed its members to pool their funds to get better deals on goods and services. Before long, she was serving as its national director.
Around 1940, Baker became a field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a role that required extensive travel as she raised funds and recruited new members to the organization. Baker became the NAACP's national director of branches in 1943, though she stepped down from the role three years later to take over care of her niece, Jackie Brockington.
READ MORE: Ella Baker Biography (1903–1986)
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Posted By: Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
Saturday, March 12th 2022 at 3:04PM
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