Ella Baker Research Paper

All those who contributed to the black Civil Rights movement were striving for one goal, and that obviously being equality amongst everyone, but when striving for this goal, some leaders approached the racial issues differently. Ella Baker was one of those leaders, she saw the strength of the youth and community, and because of that, she knew that they were the answer to the question of what would end racism? Although Ms.Baker was confident in her beliefs, others in the Civil Rights community were not, they posed the question, was Ella Baker fighting for the the same cause as the rest for the civil rights community? Ella Baker was a strong willed Civil Rights activists, she was affiliated with prominent Civil Rights Organizations, such as, …show more content…
Her grandmother, a former slave who had been whipped because she refused to marry the man selected by her owner, told young Ella stories of slave revolts and other interesting events, which would impact Ella throughout her life. As she grew up her surrounding shaped her mind to be strong, compassionate, and bold, as stories from her grandmother to the strong religious beliefs of her mother gave her the opportunity to be educated on multiple things in society. Ella Baker had always acknowledged her childhood as something that shaped her mind, “ I was young when I became active in things and I became active and things largely because my mother was very active in the field of religion.”, the presence of God in her life allowed her to see each human being as equal no matter what color their skin was, and this helped contribute to her role in the civil rights movement."As an adult, baker had the habit of beginning discussions on what African Americans needed to do to gain full equality in the 20th century United States by analyzing the legacies of slavery, insisting that “The freedom movement has been and is as old as the existence of black people on this continent.” Baker attended Shaw University in Raleigh, which was founded in 1865 and happened to the the first historically black college. “In Barbara Ransby's judgment, "next to the church, Shaw was the most important institution and …show more content…
“During the late 1920’s and the 1930’s, Baker came of age politically and began to formulate the worldview and theoretical framework that influenced her organizing work for the next fifty years.” , the political scene caught the attention of the amazed newcomer and as she forwarded her attention towards politics, she came to see exactly what she loved doing and what she could do to change society. Ms. baker did not want to focus on understanding the views of the wealthy and popular, she wanted to focus on the common people who made up a larger mass than anyone else. She understood how much potential each and every person, who was ignored by larger civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., had and how if she was able to have conversation with them and let them see their own potential, she could cause a domino effect. In order to do so, Ms.Baker had to first understand the different opinions people in it, with an open mind, Baker began to listen to the the community and form new arguments and overall expand her knowledge on what the problems were. “Baker said “ Harlem was the hotbed - let's say for radical thinking. You had every spectrum of radical thinking….The ignorant ones, like me, we had lots of opportunities to hear and evaluate whether or not this was the kind of

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