Ella Baker (1903-1986)

Baker was an essential activist during the civil rights movement. She was a field secretary and branch director for the NAACP and cofounded an organization that raised money to fight Jim Crow laws. Additionally, Baker was a key organizer for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. But what was perhaps her biggest contribution to the movement was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which prioritized nonviolent protest, assisted in organizing the 1961 Freedom Rides, and aided in registering Black voters. The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights exists today to carry on her legacy.