Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement Essay

Mrs.Chisholm displayed the characteristics of a true Visionary Leader by creating a vision of diversity. Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education [BCEE] (2016) defines “Diversity”, as personal life experiences, geographic background, socioeconomic background, cultural knowledge, educational background, work background, language abilities, physical abilities, philosophical/spiritual perspectives, age, race, ethnicity, and gender. In 1968, she achieved and promoted diversity by becoming the first African American woman elected to the United

None of these jobs particularly interested her, and she decided to find an organization that helped to fight for Civils Rights. After Baker had spent three years in New York City, she joined the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). This foundation was established in 1909 (Richman). The organization’s aim was to work on the elimination of lynching and other discriminatory actions towards blacks. She became the assistant field secretary, and was sent all over the South to different branches (Richman). Her main job in the organization was to recruit and raise funds (Ella Baker’s Biography). The organization also began fighting against the Jim Crow laws. These laws legally allowed segregation throughout the South (Featherstone). In 1942, Ella was appointed the director of all local branches in the NAACP. “Ella Baker was involved in advising and organizing whatever actions were needed to satisfy the membership, from getting a traffic light on the corner, to fighting court battles for voting, creation of jobs, or educational opportunities.” (Richman).

The United States is a immigrant country, which faces varieties of problems. The African American problem is one of the most serious one. Racial segregation is a deep-rooted social problem, which reflects in every field in the United States. For example, education, labor market and criminal justice system. In the aspect of education, most of black children were not permitted to enter the school, because the white children studied there. In the aspect of labor market, the black people 's average wages were lower than the whites. They did the manual work. In the aspect of criminal justice system, the blacks were easily in jail. Badly, their sentences were also more serious than the whites. In general, the blacks live in the bottom of the American society. Martin Luther King delivered the famous speech I Have a Dream, ' ' I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ' ' (1) However, it was difficult for African American to get the freedom. The 1776 Declaration of Independence announced that everyone are equal and freedom.But black slavery still occurred in the southern states of America. Then the Civil War broke out, African American kept struggling for land and political rights.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Black Panther Party (BPP) are two of the most influential organizational groups. They both fought for desegregation and stood for justice. They fought day in and day out to get equal social, economic and political rights for African Americans. During this time of desegregation, lynching, organized hate crimes organization such as the KKK and police brutality caused African Americans to protested and stand up for what they deserved. The SCLC was created in 1957 and believed that they could get their voices heard without violence. Bayard Rustin and Ella Baker along with Martian Luther King organized the protest in Alabama, the Montgomery Bus Boycott. They also joined local movements

Shirley Chisholm, first African American woman to be elected to Congress was born in Brooklyn on November 30, 1924. She is one of the most profound and admired women that challenged society not only as a woman, but a woman of color. She made many contributions to the women's movement and society.

This paper discusses the experiences of African American Women under slavery during the Slave Trade, their exploitation, the secrecy, the variety of tasks and positions of slave women, slave and ex-slave narratives, and significant contributions to history. Also, this paper presents the hardships African American women faced and the challenges they overcame to become equal with men in today’s society. Slavery was a destructive experience for African Americans especially women. Black women suffered doubly during the slave era.

During my early years of school, I remember being taught white accomplishments and wondering if blacks and other people of color had made any significant contributions to today's world. I noticed that television consist of all white people. Throughout my research paper I hope to cover certain aspects of African American heritage. Aspects such as blacks making up the largest minority group in the United States, although Mexican-Americans are rapidly changing that. The contributions blacks have provided to our country are immeasurable. Unfortunately though rather than recognizing these contributions, white America would rather focus on oppressing and degrading these people. As a consequence American

The civil rights movement broadened the definition of leadership to include women, and left an impression of women as powerful and determined activists. Jo An Robinson and Ella Baker are just two of the many women who were able to take charge and make an impact on the movement. Robinson led the Women’s Political Council, which plotted strategy for a one-day bus boycott in Montgomery following Rosa Parks’ arrest. The Council was able to recruit clergy to lend their churches for mass meetings and was able to tap into a new minister in town, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead the Montgomery Improvement Association, which would coordinate the larger Montgomery Bus Boycotts . It was the women that organized this key moment in the civil rights movement – which was, in fact, spurred by a woman, Rosa Parks, refusing to take her seat in the back of the bus. Ella Baker was similarly key in the Civil Rights movement. She was instrumental in organizing a conference of student sit-in activists in 1960, forming the beginning of what would become the SNCC. By educating and fostering leadership, Baker helped members to see themselves as potential leaders – regardless of race or gender. That does not mean that leadership in the

Slavery began in the late 16th century to early 18th century. Africans were brought to American colonies by white masters to come and work on their plantations in the South. They were treated harshly with no payments for all their hard work. In addition, they lived under harsh living conditions, and this led to their resistance against these harsh conditions. The racism towards the African Americans who were slaves was at its extreme as they did not have any rights; no civil nor political rights.

Shirley Chisholm’s deep involvement within the community strengthened her political influence. She grew more alert to the problems that affected her people such as police brutality, poverty, and women’s lack of rights. Chisholm was an active participant in many community groups such as the League of Women Voters and the Seventeenth Assembly District Democratic Club while also being active in the Democratic Party. Through her experiences, she gained great leadership skills by having responsibilities and learning the art of organizing and

It was during this time, the 1950’s and 1960’s, that her husband rose in popularity to lead the Civil Rights Movement in America. In 1955 one of the first significant events took place in the changing of rights that black people had. This event was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in which many black people opposed the city’s policy of racial segregation on its public bus system. The struggle lasted from December 1st, 1955 to December 20th, 1956. The deciding factor was that most black people in Montgomery agreed to follow this act and did not ride the buses. This proved highly in favor of them as they were the majority of bus riders, soon after, the bus companies saw a drastic drop in the revenue, which led to the United States Supreme Court to declare that these laws were unconstitutional. Throughout that year, Coretta and her husband Martin participated in this event and walked to many of the places in which they needed to go. This garnered huge worldwide attention towards the injustices that existed in America and gained their cause much support in many others countries.

Singer. Born April 25, 1917, in Newport News, Virginia. (Though many biographical sources give her birth date as 1918, her birth certificate and school records show her to have been born a year earlier.) Often referred to as the "first lady of song," Fitzgerald enjoyed a career that stretched over six decades. With her lucid intonation and a range of three octaves, she became the preeminent jazz singer of her generation, recording over 2,000 songs, selling over 40 million albums, and winning 13 Grammy Awards, including one in 1967 for Lifetime Achievement.

The black freedom struggle has not yet come to an end – there are still prejudiced and racist radicals that try to negotiate white supremacy and dominance in order to prevent the blacks from their long wait for equality. Consequently, the movement has progressed very sluggishly in the past few centuries. Nevertheless, the campaign for equal rights has led to the triumph over slavery and has led to the accrual of suffrage rights. However, this is still not enough, not after centuries of enslavement, lynching, segregation, and discrimination. Oftentimes, there is still no justice in court houses, especially when black people are accused and convicted, even for the simplest of crimes – as compared to the white and powerful who are charged for heinous misconducts and get away scratch free. Hence, throughout the period of the Blacks’ long fight for freedom and equality, several Black intellectuals have come front with ideas that could administer better treatment for their people. A good strategy to encourage the black populace to fight for their freedom and their rights is by inverting popular ideas so that there is a clear distinction between the reasonable and unreasonable notions of equality and justice. Thus, it was not uncommon for these literati to undermine dominant discourses in order to bolster their own analyses. Among the discussed black intellectuals who inverted prevailing dissertations, three that stood out the most are Frederick Douglass, Anna Julia Cooper, and

Nina Simone used music to challenge, provoke, incite, and inform the masses during the period that we know as the Civil Rights Era. In the songs” Four Women”, “Young Gifted and Black”, and Mississippi God Damn”, Nina Simone musically maps a personal "intersectionality" as it relates to being a black American female artist. Kimberly Crenshaw defines "intersectionality" as an inability for black women to separate race, class and gender. Nina Simone’s music directly addresses this paradigm. While she is celebrated as a prolific artist her political and social activism is understated despite her front- line presence in the movement. According to Ruth Feldstein “Nina Simone recast black activism in the 1960’s.” Feldstein goes on to say

“Only by experience can any one realize how deep, and dark, and foul is that pit of abominations.” (Jacobs, 120). These words are spoken by Harriet Jacobs (also known as Linda Brent) and after reading about her life experience as a slave, I have come to believe that slavery was far worse for women than it ever was for men. Jacobs never states that black slave men had it easy during the slave years, in fact she tells a few stories about how some slave men were beaten. She also tells about the life experience of a slave girl, herself. Her own experiences made me feel blessed that I was never born as a black woman during the time of slavery. I do not think that I would have been strong enough to endure