Ella Baker

Ella Baker

1903-1986

In the late 1950s Ella Baker helped create Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with Martin Luther King, Jr. to fight racism. She served as executive director. 

As college students became involved in the civil rights movement, Baker supported the idea of a student-run organization. She was an inspiring force behind the creation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which organized restaurant sit-ins and freedom riders to help end segregation.