Ella baker death

Biography of Ella (Josephine) Baker

Ella Baker was an activist for the civil and human rights of African-Americans, starting from the 1930s. She was born in Norfolk, Virginia and when she was nine years old, her family moved to her mother's hometown of Littleton, North Carolina. In her childhood, Ella often heard her grandmother's stories about slave rebellions. She attended Shaw University in the capital of North Carolina, Raleigh, and graduated in 1927. After graduating, she moved to New York. In 1929-1930, she was a member of the editorial board of the "American West Indian News" newspaper, and later became an assistant editor for the "Negro National News" newspaper.

In 1930, black journalist and anarchist George Schuyler founded the "Cooperative League of Colored Youth" and in 1931, Ella became one of the leaders in the organization after befriending Schuyler. In the 1930s, Ella immersed herself in the cultural and political environment of Harlem. She founded the "Negro History Club" and the "Harlem Library," as well as organizing meetings and giving lectures in the "Young Women's Christian Organization." In 1938, Ella began her long collaboration with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and in 1941, she became the organization's secretary. She traveled extensively around the country, primarily in the South, recruiting new members, raising funds, and conducting various campaigns. In 1943, she was appointed the head of the organization's chapters. The headquarters of the organization was in Baltimore. However, in 1946, Ella was forced to return to New York to take care of her niece. She soon joined the New York branch of the NAACP, where she worked on desegregating schools and cases of police brutality against African-Americans. In 1952, she became the president of the branch. In 1953, Ella made an unsuccessful attempt to run for New York City Council from the Liberal Party. From 1957 to 1960, Ella was in Atlanta, primarily fighting for full participation rights for African-Americans in the electoral campaigns and organizing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). From 1962 to 1967, Baker worked for the Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF), whose goal was to help black and white individuals work together for social justice. In the 1960s, Ella also traveled around the country giving speeches on the importance of the interconnection between civil rights and civil liberties. Later, Ella returned to New York, where she collaborated with Arthur Kinoy and the socialist organization "Organizational Committee of the Majority Party." In 1972, she traveled across the United States in support of the "Free Angela Davis" campaign.

Ella Baker was a member of numerous feminist organizations. She remained an activist until her death in 1986. She was always an extremely private person and did not leave behind any diaries or other records. Even people who were close to her did not suspect that Ella had been married for over twenty years. In 1981, Joanne Grant made the documentary film "Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker," telling the important role Ella Baker played in the history of the civil rights movement in the United States.