Ella Baker's Grassroots Organizing Legacy Highlighted in Smithsonian Magazine
A report from Smithsonian Magazine highlights the life of Ella Baker (1903-1986), an essential yet often overlooked figure in the civil rights movement. Born in Norfolk, Virginia, she spent her childhood on a farm in North Carolina. In her twenties, she relocated to New York, where she co-founded a Black cooperative amid the Great Depression. As a field officer for the NAACP starting in 1941, she increased membership from 1941 to over 400,000 by 1944. In 1955, she played a key role in founding the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and convinced Martin Luther King Jr. to take the helm. She later organized a retreat for student activists in 1960, leading to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which she advised until her passing in 1986. In 1978, Bob Moses gave her the nickname "Fundi."
Key facts
- Ella Baker was born in 1903 in Norfolk, Virginia.
- She moved to New York during the Harlem Renaissance in her 20s.
- Baker became an NAACP field officer in 1941.
- She doubled NAACP membership to over 400,000 by 1944.
- Baker co-founded the SCLC in 1955 with Bayard Rustin and Stanley Levison.
- She organized the 1960 Raleigh retreat that led to the SNCC.
- Baker died in New York in 1986 at age 83.
- Bob Moses nicknamed her 'Fundi' in 1978.
Entities
Artists
- Ella Baker
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Bayard Rustin
- Stanley Levison
- John Lewis
- Diane Nash
- Julian Bond
- Stokely Carmichael
- Bob Moses
- Judy Richardson
- Erna Dungee
- Victor Luckerson
- Hsiao-Ron Cheng
Institutions
- Smithsonian Magazine
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
- Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
- Commission on Civil Rights
Locations
- Norfolk, Virginia
- North Carolina
- New York
- Atlanta
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Montgomery