Black History Month has been a time where we celebrate the triumphs and achievements of black people, whether it be far back in the 1950s, the 90s or even today. Traditionally, we talk about the iconic figures such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Though their contributions to the black community are not to be challenged, there are dozens, hundreds of others whose efforts go unappreciated and uncredited. I’d like to give them a nod, at least. Each of these figures belongs to a category. Civil rights, the sciences, sports, visual arts, corporate business and music, respectively.
The first activist I’d like to talk about is a woman by the name of Ella Baker. Born in 1903, in Norfolk Virginia to husband and wife Anna and Blake Baker, Ella Josephine Baker knew of the racial injustices in the world at an early age. Her grandmother often shared her stories with Baker, as she was a freed slave. The town had a race riot in 1910 and Baker, her siblings and mother returned to Anna’s hometown of Littleton when Ella was the age of seven. Learning of the treatment her grandmother faced and being surrounded by such tension in the south led her to become interested in equal rights issues.
Baker graduated valedictorian from Shaw University and without time to spare, made her way to New York City. She joined many social activist groups, including the Young Negroes Cooperative League. She went on to be a part of the NAACP and climbed the ranks to serve as director of branches, one of the highest ranks in the organization. She stepped down in 1946 but continued to support the New York branch of the NAACP.
She co-founded, “In Friendship” in the wake of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts and raised money against the laws barring people of color from voting. Baker was quite the virtuoso, possessing great leadership and strategic ability. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. appointed her executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Contrary to King’s approach to the civil rights issue, Baker believed there should be a web of people and activists leading the charge against racial oppression, rather than one leader.
This was one of the main reasons she went unknown and unseen, as people opted for the individual hero such as Malcom X. Though she believed in the power of community, on her own she was a formidable representative, going on to found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Baker taught those in the younger generations how to carry and push the legacy of the Civil Rights movement up until the year she died in 1986.
Moving forward, the Corpus Christi Blog Club is excited to feature historical men and women that have made a difference in our society’s fight for equality through the Extraordinary Americans series on the Comet Tales Blog. Make sure to keep an eye out for it!