Ella Baker, 1903 – 1986
Ella Baker, 1903 – 1986
Ella Baker began her involvement with the NAACP in 1940. She worked as a field secretary and then served as director of branches from 1943 until 1946. Inspired by the historic bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, Baker co-founded the organization In Friendship to raise money to fight against Jim Crow Laws in the deep South. In 1957, Baker moved to Atlanta to help organize Martin Luther King’s new organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). She also ran a voter registration campaign called the Crusade for Citizenship. Helped found Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which helped create 1964 Freedom Summer. With Ella Baker’s guidance and encouragement, SNCC became one of the foremost advocates for human rights in the country.
