Voting Station

Ella Baker

Please vote to return to collections.

Advocate

The Resume

    (December 13, 1903-December 13, 1986)
    Born in Norfolk, Virginia
    Civil rights organizer
    Member of the NAACP (1938-46,1952-53)
    Founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (1960) and Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (1964)
    Co-organizer of the Freedom Summer voter registration campaign (1964)

Why she might be annoying:

    She was so private that people she worked alongside for years never realized she was married (or, later that she was divorced).
    She ran unsuccessfully for the New York City Council (1953).
    She dissed Martin Luther King, Jr. as a member of the 'silver spoon brigade' and a leader with 'heavy feet of clay.'

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was called 'the most influential woman in the civil rights movement.'
    She mentored civil rights activists Rosa Parks, Julian Bond and Stokely Carmichael.
    She promoted grassroots organizing and direct action.
    She said, 'You didn't see me on television, you didn't see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come.'
    She worried that an emphasis on leaders like King kept people from developing confidence in themselves.
    She said, 'My theory is, strong people don't need strong leaders.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 59 Votes: 54.24% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 27 Votes: 55.56% Annoying