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Ella Josephine Baker was born on this day (1903) and died on this day (1986)

Baker was a civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than 50 years.

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In New York City and the South, she worked alongside some of the most noted civil rights leaders of the 20th century, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr.

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Baker also mentored many emerging activists, such as Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, Rosa Parks, and Bob Moses, whom she first mentored as leaders in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

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Ella Baker has been called "one of the most important American leaders of the 20th century and perhaps the most influential woman in the civil rights movement." She is known for her critiques not only of racism within American culture, but also of SEXISM WITHIN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

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LEGACY:
✊🏿In 1967 Baker returned to New York City, where she continued her activism. She later collaborated with Arthur Kinoy and others to form the Mass Party Organizing Committee, a socialist organization.

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✊🏿In 1972 she traveled the country in support of the "Free Angela" campaign, demanding the release of activist and writer Angela Davis, who had been arrested in California as a communist. Davis was acquitted after representing herself in court.