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Ella Baker Quotes

1903–1986 United States

Ella Baker (December 13, 1903 – December 13, 1986) was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than five decades, including a lot of work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

United States
Activists

Random Ella Baker quote

8 quotes

Strong people do not need strong leaders.

The development of the individual to his highest potential for the benefit of the group.

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.

People have to be made to understand that they cannot look for salvation anywhere but to themselves.

I have always thought what is needed is the development of people who are interested not in being leaders as much as in developing leadership among other people.

My basic sense of it has always been to get people to understand that in the long run they themselves are the only protection they have against violence or injustice.

I think you have to have a certain sense of your own value, and a sense of security on your part, to be able to forgo the glamor of what the leadership role offers.

Until the killing of black men, black mothers' 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 this happens. (1964)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Ella Baker (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.