“Until the killing of Black men, black mother’s sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it this happens.” The third person of our Black History Month series is Ella Baker (1903-1986). She spearheaded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. 

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Her life (e.g., mentored Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, Rosa Parks, and Bob Moses) and accomplishments (e.g., formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964 to serve as an alternative to the state’s democratic party) were chronicled in the 1981 documentary Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker. “Fundi” was her nickname, from a Swahili word that means a person who passes down a craft to the next generation. 

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 “Remember, we are not fighting for the freedom of the Negro alone, but for the freedom of the human spirit a larger freedom that encompasses all mankind.”For her sacrifice, we salute the late-great-Ella Baker!