Essay On Ella Baker

When thinking of the Civil Rights Movement, for many of us, it seems like it was a thousand years ago, but for many, the memory and pain is still fresh, and it seems like yesterday. When thinking of this movement, we often think of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Park, and Malcom X, when there were so many others fighting and key to the movement. Ella Baker had a deep sense of family, which translated into her philosophy.

Like most African American citizens of her time, Ella Baker had close relatives that remember the “Slavery Days”, which helped to form Ella and her views. Chapter one focuses on the sense of community that Ella had around her and how it shaped her. She reflects on her grandparents, their heritage, and their stories. It was not

Ella reflects about how her lineage is full of relationships like this. She talks specifically and in depth of her grandmother, Bet Ross, who was the daughter of her master and an octoroon, “a slave with many more black than white ancestors” (pg. 11). Her Grandmother was key to Baker’s ideals that set her apart from many of the other leaders of this time. She passed along these stories of her grandparents to show where she, like many other black Americans, draw their strength and perseverance from (pg. 12). Baker’s family, unlike most freed slaves at the time, owned land. In this period, land was crucial as it was a very agricultural forward society. With this land, it allowed her family to be better off and educated. The Civil Rights Movement was not just about being accepted as equals in society, but it was also a way for the groups that this movement inflicted to better themselves, their futures, work through the trauma and hardships of their past, and ultimately have a better life. Ella’s family was already marginally

From that point on, her life and philosophy really began to take on a clearer picture. She began to spread her philosophy and ideas through media such as newspapers, journals, and books. She joined the YNCL and eventually became the director. YNCL helped to empower African Americans across the nation, along with giving Baker and outlet for her work and ideals (pg. 36). Baker continued to found and join clubs and organizations that provided a safe place for folks in the community to meet, exchange ideas, better educate themselves, and ultimately building a deep and large network of individuals. Baker focused on individuals, personal relationships. This allowed her to have deep and meaningful connections that would help her along her journey. Some of the other clubs/organizations include: Adult Education Committee, Mothers in the Park, and Workers’ Education Program that was a part of the Workers Progress Administration. With all of these different groups pulling from different demographics, she was able to spread her leadings and teachings to a vast