[35], Baker's philosophy was "power to the people. From that meeting, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee — SNCC — was born. Like her, we spark change by unlocking the power of every person to strengthen their communities and shape their future. She became its president in 1952. With Ella Baker’s guidance and encouragement, SNCC became one of the foremost advocates for human rights in the country. She immersed herself in the cultural and political milieu of Harlem in the 1930s, protesting Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and supporting the campaign to free the Scottsboro defendants in Alabama. The SCLC leaders envisioned themselves as the political arm of the black church. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose, Martin Luther King High School (disambiguation), Lycée Martin Luther King (disambiguation), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ella_Baker&oldid=979620204, Activists for African-American civil rights, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, An appeal for grassroots involvement of people throughout society, while making their own decisions, A call for direct action as an answer to fear, isolation, and intellectual detachment, Several biographies have been written about Baker, including Barbara Ransby's. [27], The SCLC first appeared publicly as an organization at the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom. She worked as a field secretary and then served as director of branches from 1943 until 1946. Miss Baker organized a meeting at Shaw University for the student leaders of the sit-ins in April 1960. [1][2], Baker criticized professionalized, charismatic leadership; she promoted grassroots organizing, radical democracy, and the ability of the oppressed to understand their worlds and advocate for themselves. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. In 1957, Baker helped launch the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), under the presidency King. [28] The conference's first project was the 1958 Crusade for Citizenship, a voter registration campaign to increase the number of registered African-American voters for the 1958 and 1960 elections. These ideas also influenced a wide range of radical and progressive groups that would form in the 1960s and 1970s. Baker continued to fight for social justice and equality into her later years, providing counsel to such organizations as the Third World Women's Coordinating Committee and the Puerto Rican Solidarity Committee. Baker fought to make the NAACP more democratic. This was a gathering of sit-in leaders to meet, assess their struggles, and explore the possibilities for future actions.