“We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes” – “Ella’s Song”
Ella continued working with community-based organizations and activism in New York until her death at the age of 83 in 1986. Her legacy lives on in arts, the media and modern human rights activism.
The Ella Baker Center in Oakland, California. Photo: ellabakercenter.org
The Ella Baker Center was established in Oakland, California in 1996. The Center’s mission is to encourage grassroots, direct-action organizing in her Ella’s honor, and focus on mobilizing and organizing against a wide range of modern human rights violations.1
Ella’s Song was written in its namesake’s honor by gospel singer and historian Bernice Johnson Reagon. It is performed by Sweet Honey in the Rock, a Grammy-award winning African American female a capella group, and honors Ella’s lifelong dedication to fighting for black equality.2
Artwork featuring Ella Baker
Ella was honored on a national U.S. Postage stamp in 2009, and is widely considered an unsung hero of the Civil Rights movement. She has been featured in modern artwork and murals depicting her importance as a leader of social change, and featured in teachings throughout in various North Carolina education programs.
Sources for this page:
1. ellabakercenter.org. Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. 2013.
2. Ransby, Barbara. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision. Chapel Hill: UNC Press. 2005.
Civil Rights Women Leaders of the Carolinas 