Ella Baker: Freedom Bound
During a 1969 speech at the Institute of the Black World, Ella Baker stated “…[O]ne of the guiding principles has to be that we cannot lead a struggle that involves masses of people without identifying with the people and without getting the people to understand what their potentials are, what their strengths are.” (Grant, 192). Using this quote as your guide, analyze how Ella Baker followed this principle throughout her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, using at least three specific examples from Ella Baker: Freedom Bound to illustrate your argument.
The only source you will use for this paper is the book Ella Baker: Freedom Bound by Jo Ann Grant. Your essays will be typed, using 12-point Times New Roman (or a comparable) font and 1-inch margins all around. All papers will be double-spaced. Do not skip lines between paragraphs. Include a cover page on your paper. Your name must be in a header on all pages. Your essays will be a minimum of three pages in length. The length will be computed by starting from the first line of writing on the first page and ending with the last line of writing on the last page. Failing to meet page lengths will result in a failing grade. I will stop reading at the bottom of the fifth page; subsequent material will be ignored. Citations will be in Chicago Style format. All essays MUST be submitted through the Ella Baker Dropbox in Week 5 on D2L. Late papers receive a 10% deduction for each calendar day the paper is late.
ELLA BAKER: FREEDOM BOUND
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In her speech of 1969, Ella Baker argued that one of the most important guidelines is that people ought not to start struggles that engage many people without relating to the people themselves and letting them note their abilities and potentials. In this case, Ella baker adhered to the latter principle throughout her involvement in the civil right movements. Ella Baker believed in the act of providing light for the people for them to find the right path on their own. With light, the people would definitely see the right path and would rarely fall in traps or temptations.
Most important, Ella Baker could spend her entire days trying to make individuals comprehend their capabilities as well as prospective in order to enable them face life issues. It can be deduced that for individuals who fully understand the challenges facing the United States from the Depression period all the way to the period of current public liberties, the name is quite iconic. For her, she is a person to be respected for emerging as one of those who improved the self-realization of the Black females. Moreover, she has continued to be an inspiring person seen from her self-confidence. This happens especially when handling individuals, her endurance, and her ability to handle issues of race, gender, and equality. In fact, she is one person who can withstand extreme pressure.
In addition, she is respected due to the confidence she had to the youth, her willingness to sublimate ego for her politics and her commitment and willingness to work for cause and not organization or parties. She had precision for dedication to equality. For more than a period of five years, Ella Baker was at the cutting edge of the struggle during the NAAP of the forties as well as the Christian leadership conference of fifties and the nonviolent coordinating committee exercised in the sixties. Furthermore, she was involved in working with various and different organizations that were not known much.
Nevertheless, she had been both a radical humanist and a radical democrat because her feminist sensibilities seemed very strong in such a way that they could discomfit many of the traditional leaders. It is also significantly imperative to note that she took teaching as the most significant and fundamental act of politics. For instance, she could often insist that the drawbacks confronted by human beings are complex in such a way that they require all types of political challenge, right from the elect...