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Quote by Ella Baker

“From the Cooperative League, I suppose, with the Depression lingering as long as it did, the next step in terms of, as you call it, professional relationship, was to go to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP]. I went there as an assistant field secretary, and so forth. So, I suppose that was the first organized step.”

Quote by Ella Baker

Author

Ella Baker (December 13, 1903 – December 13, 1986) was a prominent African American civil rights activist known for her grassroots organizing and mentorship of young leaders. Born in Norfolk, Virginia, and raised in North Carolina, she was influenced by her grandmother's experience as a slave. Baker joined the NAACP in the 1930s, serving as a field secretary and branch director, expanding its membership across the South. She later worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), emphasizing collective action over charismatic leadership. Baker advocated for 'group-centered leadership,' empowering ordinary people and youth. Her work shaped the strategy and structure of the civil rights movement, though she often remained in the background. She died on December 13, 1986, at age 83. more

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“[Walter White] was also one of the best lobbyist of the period.”

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“When I went to the Association [ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] I learned a few things by observation. One of the things that used to strike me was [Walter White] need to impress people, even just people who came into the office.”

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“[Walter White] had keep [people] waiting while you got the impression that he was terribly busy with calls to Washington. I've seen such exhibitions in that direction as having someone come out of his office to the switchboard operator - which at that time was sort of located in the center of wherever people were waiting - and ask to call such-and-such a place, or a call through to Mr. So-and-so, or somebody like this, you see.”

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“One of the particular things that impressed me was one visitor [of NAACP] - I think it was - it wasn't the Prime Minister of England. We were located then on 14th Street and Fifth Avenue, up several flights of rickety stairs, and he came all the way up those stairs to see Walter [White], largely because of certain kinds of impact, I think, that the Association seemingly was having.”

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“I didn't have any close relationship with him because, although [William Edward Burghardt] DuBois may not have been as egocentric - I don't know - he certainly was not the easiest person to approach. I think, certainly, those of us who were younger sort of respected that in terms of his preoccupation with deep thoughts. So, I made no effort to establish any relationship with him. However, he was in and out then.”

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“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

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“My association with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is sort of predated by an effort that we were a part of here in New York City regarding the reaction to this 1954 Supreme Court [Brown v Board of Education] decision.”

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“I believe, the NAACP began to try to organize parents of Negro children to file petitions with the boards of education regarding the integration of the school system. You had some very severe economic reprisals against people in Mississippi and in South Carolina. So, in order to try to help to meet some of the physical needs and the economic needs of people in Clarendon County [SC] who had been displaced from the land, and otherwise, and in certain sections of Mississippi, we organized in New York City something called "In Friendship".”

“This In Friendship - out of it came certain connections with the liberal labor establishment. Among the personalities that were involved were Bayard Rustin and a person from the American Jewish Congress, Stanley Levinson.”

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