Ella J. Baker (1903 - 1986)

Ella Baker, born in Norfolk, was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement for five decades. In the 1940s she was a field secretary with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and later served as its director of branches. Baker helped to establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1960 she helped to launch the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and she served as mentor to a generation of young activists. A strong proponent of grassroots leadership, Baker believed: “Give people light and they will find a way.”