Though Ella Baker left us no blueprint, belonged to no tendency in the American left, and rejected organisational ties, her unique and revolutionary pedagogy is an invaluable resource for contemporary organisers.

 

Baker’s personal philosophy grew from personal experience. It found its roots in her mother’s involvement in the Black Baptist missionary movement and her own education at Shaw University. Then developed in the intellectual melting pot of Harlem and throughout her interactions with sharecroppers in Mississippi.

 

Baker’s praxis was rooted in close social bonds and, by positioning herself at the grassroots, she was afforded a new perspective. Adamant that the oppressed should define their own freedom, she chose to prioritise listening and never impose a decision on a group.

 

As one SNCC activist observed, “Miss Ella would ask key questions, and through the asking of the questions, certain things became revealed.”

 

This broke with the Civil Rights Movement’s tendency to prop up momentous figures and external leadership by encouraging local cultivation instead. Working for the NAACP, Baker refused to travel to a new place, give a single speech, and disappear the next day. Instead, she would take extended trips and engage with the local community as equals.

 

Baker knew that support for the movement would often be understood in language different from the organisation’s official programme and encouraged these seeds of resistance. Similarly, when SNCC activists were sent to jail, she made sure they had toothbrushes and combs.

 

Her aim was not simply to mobilise, but to organise. baker inspired a new generation of activists, giving them the tools to carry on a struggle which she believed to be eternal. Below is a song by former SNCC member Bernice Johnson Reagon. The lyrics are taken directly from one of Baker’s speeches and is performed by the acapella group Sweet Honey In the Rock.