DOCSLIB.ORG

Grassroots Leadership and Political Activism in a Nonhierarchical

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by SHAREOK repository UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE ELLA BAKER AND THE SNCC: GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM IN A NONHIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Joan E. Charles Norman, Oklahoma 2007 UMI Number: 3278447 UMI Microform 3278447 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 ELLA BAKER AND THE SNCC: GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM IN A NONHIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION A Dissertation APPROVED FOR THE GRADUATE COLLEGE BY ________________________ Dr. Priscilla Griffith, Chair ________________________ Dr. George Henderson ________________________ Dr. Jiening Ruan ________________________ Dr. Susan Smith-Nash ________________________ Dr. Robert Terry @ Copyright by JOAN E. CHARLES 2007 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the chair of my committee, Dr. Priscilla Griffith for being the best advocate a candidate could have. Her positive reassurances, encouragement, insightfulness, and support have helped me through the many times when I was very confused and overwhelmed. I could not have done this dissertation without Dr. Griffith’s guidance. I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee for their expertise and insights: Thank you Dr. George Henderson, I am especially grateful for the meetings that we had in the early days when you gently pushed me to narrow my focus. Dr. Susan Smith-Nash, thank you for the positive comments, words of encouragement, and for redirecting my path. Thank you Dr. Terry for your insightful contributions on this project. A special thank you to Dr. Ruan for joining my dissertation committee. I appreciate your kindness and willingness to work with me. Throughout the Ph. D. program I had a great team of professors. Thank you for making my dream come true. Thank you Dr. Joseph Rodgers for your patience, academic advising, and guidance throughout the program. I am also especially appreciative to “Cohort Three” members, especially, Dr. Barbara Hickman, Dr. Linda Dugan, Dr. Tre Hammond, Antonio Jones, Candy Bird, and Aisha Turner for their support during this journey. You have all inspired me. This study is dedicated to four great women who have positively affected my life in so many ways. To my beautiful daughter Mercedes Charles, I love you very much. You gave me support and encouragement to work on this project. I am iv so grateful for everything you have done to help me complete this work. I am so very happy that you are my daughter and I have been able to set examples that you can take with you as you begin your college education. To my mom, Ann Quashie, thank you for being a loving, supportive, and kind parent. You told me to aspire and achieve. I am so glad that you were there to push me when I faltered. To my loving sisters Joyce Quashie and Beavy Quashie-Wells, I thank you for your unconditional love, patience, and support. Thank you for laughing with me, for drying my tears, and holding me up when I was about to fall. Beavy, you flew to Germany to take care of me before and after my surgery. You encouraged me to fight the fight. You reminded me that I have to finish this project. You have inspired me. Thank you for being my role model. To my wonderful and dearest father, even though you are not here with us today, I want to thank you for teaching me important values that have helped me throughout life’s difficult journey. You taught me to believe in myself. To my brother-in-law Lester Wells and nieces and nephew Kyese, Kyella, and Kelsey, you have encouraged me to take time to relax and enjoy nature. To George Brown, and Cindy and Rick Van De Linde who have assisted me in so many ways, especially during my illnesses. I love you very much. To my dear friend, Edgar Zephyrine, thank you for the phone calls and e-mails, and for encouraging me not to give up. To my best friend Ann Lewis, thank you for being a friend who cares so much about me. You listened patiently and encouraged me to be strong. Thank you Katie Dennis for being the best teaching assistant. You have assisted me in making a smooth transition back to school. To my students, v thank you for all those happy memories and for making me laugh. I thank Katherine Peters, my former supervisor and my dear friend and former colleague, Ruthelyn Turner for her encouragement and support. To the staff of Vogelweh Elementary School, Kaiserslautern, Germany, I am forever grateful for your encouraging words and assistance. There are so many people who are responsible for the completion of this work. Professor Claybourne Carson of Stanford University, the staff of Schomburg Research Center for Black Studies, the staff of Wisconsin Historical Society, the staff of Vogelweh Air Base Library, and the staff of the University of Oklahoma Libraries, especially Mr. Brian Buckley who have answered my questions and assisted me in locating materials that I needed from the library. Thank you for the books, notes, interview transcripts, information, archival materials, and for just talking with me. A special thank you to Dr. Lenora Taitt- Magubane, a dear friend of Ella Baker for sharing experiences in the civil rights movement with me. Ella Baker was truly a “Grand Lady.” I hope that in some small way, I am able to share Baker’s story and her leadership style with others who are not aware of women like Ella Baker. A special thank you to the doctors and staff of St. Johannis Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, the doctors and staff of Landstuhl American Military Hospital, Germany, and Kleber Military Clinic. Because of your expertise and care I was able to complete this project. vi I give thanks to my creator from whom all blessings flow. To the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Jude, St. Anthony, and the Infant Jesus of Prague, thank you for the love, peace, wisdom, protection, guidance, and miracles. vii TABLE OF CONENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS viii ABSTRACT xi CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION 1 Problem Statement 4 Research Questions 6 Limitations of the Study 6 Significance of the Study 8 An Overview of Ella Baker 10 An Overview of SNCC 12 Key Terms and Definitions 14 Overview of Dissertation 18 CHAPTER TWO – METHOD 20 Introduction 20 The Case Study 21 The Historical Case Study 22 Restating the Problem 23 Selecting Ella Baker 24 Data Collection and Analysis 29 Summary 38 CHAPTER THREE – LEADERSHIP 39 Introduction 39 Power and Leadership 42 Leadership Defined 44 A Brief History of the Evolution of Leadership Theory 45 Black Male Leadership 51 Summary 61 CHAPTER FOUR – ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY 63 Introduction 63 Different Models of Organization 64 Unique Aspects of Grassroots Movements From an Organizational Perspective 75 Afrocentric Considerations in Organizational Theory 81 The Role of Men in the Afrocentric Model 83 Afrocentric Model and Western Organizational Models 85 Summary 87 viii CHAPTER FIVE – SOCIAL ACTIVISM AND FEMINISM 88 Introduction 88 Racism and Class Discrimination 89 Feminist Theory 94 Negative Images of Black Women 100 Dual Images of Womanhood 102 Black Feminist Standpoint 105 Ella Baker and Feminism 107 Historical Overview of the Black Church 110 Jim Crow Laws 115 The Role of the Black Church 116 The Role of Women in the Black Church 122 African American Women’s Leadership 126 African American Women Activists in the Civil Rights Movement 127 Summary 140 CHAPTER SIX – BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 142 Introduction 142 Family and Community Influences 143 Childhood 143 Shaw University 149 Early Social and Political Activism 151 Harlem 151 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 155 In Friendship 157 Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) 157 Summary 161 CHAPTER SEVEN – THE CASE OF ELLA BAKER AND THE SNCC 163 Introduction 163 Ella Baker’s Theory of Group-Centered Leadership 166 Leader-Centered Leadership 166 Group-Centered Leadership 169 Theory of Group Centered Leadership in Action: SNCC 1960-1964173 The Birth of SNCC 173 SNCC Organizational Structure 178 SNCC and Leadership 182 The Significance of SNCC 183 Nonviolent Direct Action and Grassroots Struggle 184 Changing American Society 186 Fayette and Haywood Counties, Tennessee 186 Mississippi 187 Freedom Rides 190 McComb, Mississippi 192 ix Freedom Summer 194 Freedom Schools 196 Albany, Georgia 198 SNCC and the Development of African American Women Leadership 203 Summary 210 CHAPTER EIGHT – CONCLUSION 211 Introduction 211 Recommendations and Implications for Women’s Leadership 212 The Role of Women in SNCC 212 SNCC and Leadership Development in Women 214 SNCC and the Tenets of Baker’s Leadership 216 Summary 220 REFERENCES 222 Secondary Sources 236 Primary Sources 239 APPENDIX A-Interview Questionnaire 243 APPENDIX B-Population of Mississippi by Color: 1900-1960 246 APPENDIX C-Population of Mississippi by Color, Age, and Sex: 1950-1960 247 APPENDIX D-Urban and Rural Migration by Race in Mississippi: 1950-1960 248 APPENDIX E-Statistical Outline of Counties in Southwest Georgia: 1960 249 x ABSTRACT She did not seek credit for what she did, but she received gratification from witnessing people who enjoyed seeing others grow and emerge into leaders. She was a visionary leader. She created a new story, one not known to individuals before and achieved success in conveying this story effectively to others. This historical case study examined political activism and social movements as they relate to the life of Ella Baker and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in order to describe non-positional, grassroots leadership within a nonhierarchical organization that created social change in America.
Recommended publications
  • A Summary of the Contributions of Four Key African American Female Figures of the Civil Rights Movement

    A Summary of the Contributions of Four Key African American Female Figures of the Civil Rights Movement

    Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 12-1994 A Summary of the Contributions of Four Key African American Female Figures of the Civil Rights Movement Michelle Margaret Viera Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Viera, Michelle Margaret, "A Summary of the Contributions of Four Key African American Female Figures of the Civil Rights Movement" (1994). Master's Theses. 3834. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/3834 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A SUMMARY OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF FOUR KEY AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE FIGURES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT by Michelle Margaret Viera A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Department of History Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan December 1994 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My appreciation is extended to several special people; without their support this thesis could not have become a reality. First, I am most grateful to Dr. Henry Davis, chair of my thesis committee, for his encouragement and sus­ tained interest in my scholarship. Second, I would like to thank the other members of the committee, Dr. Benjamin Wilson and Dr. Bruce Haight, profes­ sors at Western Michigan University. I am deeply indebted to Alice Lamar, who spent tireless hours editing and re-typing to ensure this project was completed.
  • Women in the Modern Civil Rights Movement

    Women in the Modern Civil Rights Movement

    Women in the Modern Civil Rights Movement Introduction Research Questions Who comes to mind when considering the Modern Civil Rights Movement (MCRM) during 1954 - 1965? Is it one of the big three personalities: Martin Luther to Consider King Jr., Malcolm X, or Rosa Parks? Or perhaps it is John Lewis, Stokely Who were some of the women Carmichael, James Baldwin, Thurgood Marshall, Ralph Abernathy, or Medgar leaders of the Modern Civil Evers. What about the names of Septima Poinsette Clark, Ella Baker, Diane Rights Movement in your local town, city or state? Nash, Daisy Bates, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ruby Bridges, or Claudette Colvin? What makes the two groups different? Why might the first group be more familiar than What were the expected gender the latter? A brief look at one of the most visible events during the MCRM, the roles in 1950s - 1960s America? March on Washington, can help shed light on this question. Did these roles vary in different racial and ethnic communities? How would these gender roles On August 28, 1963, over 250,000 men, women, and children of various classes, effect the MCRM? ethnicities, backgrounds, and religions beliefs journeyed to Washington D.C. to march for civil rights. The goals of the March included a push for a Who were the "Big Six" of the comprehensive civil rights bill, ending segregation in public schools, protecting MCRM? What were their voting rights, and protecting employment discrimination. The March produced one individual views toward women of the most iconic speeches of the MCRM, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a in the movement? Dream" speech, and helped paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and How were the ideas of gender the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  • Song & Music in the Movement

    Song & Music in the Movement

    Transcript: Song & Music in the Movement A Conversation with Candie Carawan, Charles Cobb, Bettie Mae Fikes, Worth Long, Charles Neblett, and Hollis Watkins, September 19 – 20, 2017. Tuesday, September 19, 2017 Song_2017.09.19_01TASCAM Charlie Cobb: [00:41] So the recorders are on and the levels are okay. Okay. This is a fairly simple process here and informal. What I want to get, as you all know, is conversation about music and the Movement. And what I'm going to do—I'm not giving elaborate introductions. I'm going to go around the table and name who's here for the record, for the recorded record. Beyond that, I will depend on each one of you in your first, in this first round of comments to introduce yourselves however you wish. To the extent that I feel it necessary, I will prod you if I feel you've left something out that I think is important, which is one of the prerogatives of the moderator. [Laughs] Other than that, it's pretty loose going around the table—and this will be the order in which we'll also speak—Chuck Neblett, Hollis Watkins, Worth Long, Candie Carawan, Bettie Mae Fikes. I could say things like, from Carbondale, Illinois and Mississippi and Worth Long: Atlanta. Cobb: Durham, North Carolina. Tennessee and Alabama, I'm not gonna do all of that. You all can give whatever geographical description of yourself within the context of discussing the music. What I do want in this first round is, since all of you are important voices in terms of music and culture in the Movement—to talk about how you made your way to the Freedom Singers and freedom singing.
  • ELLA BAKER, “ADDRESS at the HATTIESBURG FREEDOM DAY RALLY” (21 January 1964)

    ELLA BAKER, “ADDRESS at the HATTIESBURG FREEDOM DAY RALLY” (21 January 1964)

    Voices of Democracy 11 (2016): 25-43 Orth 25 ELLA BAKER, “ADDRESS AT THE HATTIESBURG FREEDOM DAY RALLY” (21 January 1964) Nikki Orth The Pennsylvania State University Abstract: Ella Baker’s 1964 address in Hattiesburg reflected her approach to activism. In this speech, Baker emphasized that acquiring rights was not enough. Instead, she asserted that a comprehensive and lived experience of freedom was the ultimate goal. This essay examines how Baker broadened the very idea of “freedom” and how this expansive notion of freedom, alongside a more democratic approach to organizing, were necessary conditions for lasting social change that encompassed all humankind.1 Key Words: Ella Baker, civil rights movement, Mississippi, freedom, identity, rhetoric The storm clouds above Hattiesburg on January 21, 1964 presaged the social turbulence that was to follow the next day. During a mass meeting held on the eve of Freedom Day, an event staged to encourage African-Americans to vote, Ella Baker gave a speech reminding those in attendance of what was at stake on the following day: freedom itself. Although registering local African Americans was the goal of the event, Baker emphasized that voting rights were just part of the larger struggle against racial discrimination. Concentrating on voting rights or integration was not enough; instead, Baker sought a more sweeping social and political transformation. She was dedicated to fostering an activist identity among her listeners and aimed to inspire others to embrace the cause of freedom as an essential element of their identity and character. Baker’s approach to promoting civil rights activism represents a unique and instructive perspective on the rhetoric of that movement.
  • Annual Report 2019/20 “We Are Here, Standing Strong, in Our Rightful Place.”

    Annual Report 2019/20 “We Are Here, Standing Strong, in Our Rightful Place.”

    Annual Report 2019/20 “ We are here, standing strong, in our rightful place.” Over the last two years, Highlander has expand our reach to tens of thousands of new is alive and well, and we have been able to persevered in the face of the intersecting and returning Highlander friends and family. thrive because we are held up by a community crises of white supremacist violence, a global Highlander’s operations continued, providing of care. pandemic, climate disaster, the failures of administrative infrastructure for a robust the state, the rise of authoritarianism, police fiscal sponsorship program, offering a range violence, and the many other interlocking forms of movement accompaniment and support of oppression that impact our staff and the services to the uprisings of Summer 2020, and people we serve. giving extra attention to building democracy in (and beyond) election season and attending to After the March 2019 fire, the outpouring of capital improvements of Highlander’s land and support from Highlander’s movement family buildings. across the region, the United States, and globe meant that we could focus on recovering even After the fire, we shared a message inspired by while continuing to welcome thousands of the song, “Solid as a Rock,” with our supporters: people to Highlander for educational work “We are here, standing strong, in our rightful and radical hospitality. The fire required us to place.” That message remains true today. The quickly adapt and practice resilience, a posture fire that destroyed our main office did not that effectively prepared us for early 2020’s destroy us or our work.
  • Expanding the Table for Racial Equity~

    Expanding the Table for Racial Equity~

    Putting Racism on the Table ~Expanding the Table for Racial Equity~ Civil Rights Learning Journey September 23 – 27, 2018 Memphis, TN Birmingham, AL Join us on a journey through history. Throughout the Putting Racism on the Table series, we will underscore the importance of understanding the history of race in America. You are invited to explore history first‐ hand on a learning journey through the South. This is an opportunity to build a deeper understanding of the movement for civil rights and racial justice in America. Over the course of 3.5 days, we will visit major museums, houses of worship that played significant roles in the activism of the 1960s, and sites of key protests. We will meet individuals who were leaders on the ground in the 1960s and those who are pushing for change today. Details Cost: $3,500/per person Included: All site fees; single‐occupancy hotel room each night; all meals (except Sunday & Tuesday dinners); transportation to Birmingham‐Shuttlesworth International Airport Not included: Airfare to Memphis & from Birmingham; transportation from Memphis International Airport; Sunday & Tuesday dinners Registration & Payment Deadline: July 2. Please see page 8 for our cancellation policy. Questions? Contact Rebekah Seder, [email protected] 1 Sunday, September 23, 2018 12:00‐5:00 pm: INDIVIDUAL ARRIVALS VIA MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (MEM) (Memphis, TN) Early arrivals have the option to enjoy a number of Memphis attractions. Music lovers, head to Beale Street for live Delta Blues, or tour Elvis Presley’s Graceland or Sun Records. Memphis may be known for its great BBQ, but there are a variety of southern dishes to enjoy close to the hotel.
  • In Memory of Civil Rights Veteran Jesse Harris

    In Memory of Civil Rights Veteran Jesse Harris

    Contact: For Immediate Release Hollis Watkins, Chairman January 29, 2015 Cynthia Goodloe Palmer, Executive Director (601) 977-7914 | [email protected] In Memory of Civil Rights Veteran Jesse Harris Jackson, Mississippi – The Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, Inc. (VMCRM) sends its deepest condolences to the family of Jesse Harris. Mr. Harris passed away on January 28 of natural causes at his home at the age of 75. Mr. Harris was an active board member and Civil Rights veteran. In fact, Mr. Harris attended the January 24th board meeting in high spirits. He was planning a monthly "Civil Rights Film Festival" for senior citizens who lived at his housing complex with the first event scheduled for February 5th at the City’s Fannie Lou Hamer Library. This foot soldier of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement will forever be remembered as a steadfast community organizer who worked tirelessly for justice and equality. “It is our esteemed honor to have been a part of his life, he a part of ours, and his legacy engrained in the civil and human rights we enjoy and continue to fight for today,” said Hollis Watkins, Chairman of the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, Inc. “We will dearly miss our brother, Jesse Harris,” said Cynthia Goodloe Palmer, VMCRM Executive Director. “We recently honored Mr. Harris with a ‘Board Member Highlight’ just this month. His efforts as a young man during Freedom Summer up until his death have brought about a positive change, and we will continue to carry the torch.” Homegoing services are incomplete at this time, but details will be posted on the VMCRM Facebook page at Mississippi Civil Rights Veterans once received.
  • Download a Transcript of the Episode

    Download a Transcript of the Episode

    Scene on Radio Freedom Summer (Season 4, Episode 7) Transcript http://www.sceneonradio.org/s4-e7-freedom-summer/ John Biewen: A content warning: this episode includes descriptions of intense violence, and the use of a racial slur. Chenjerai Kumanyika: So John, when you look at history the way that we’re looking at it in this series, sometimes I start to get tempted to make really sloppy historical comparisons. You know what I mean? ‘Cause that’s easy to do. John Biewen: It is easy to do. What’s that expression: history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does often rhyme. And it’s easy to get carried away trying to hear those rhymes. Chenjerai Kumanyika: In the scholarly world, we learn to have nuance and not to do that, but, you know, sometimes, I myself have been guilty. I worked on this podcast, Uncivil, about the Civil War, and during that time I was like, everything is just like 1861. I would be at dinner parties and people are like Chenj, we get it, to 1 understand anything, like a movie–we have to go back to the 19th century, we understand. John Biewen: Yeah. Or, you know, the United States today is Germany 1933! Right? Well, maybe it is, somedays it seems to be, but yeah, you try not to get too carried away reading the newspaper every morning. Chenjerai Kumanyika: Absolutely. That said, I do think it’s really important to think about the themes and continuities and lessons that we can really learn from history. And today’s episode has me thinking about political parties, and this kinda never-ending struggle that they have between what gets called party “unity,” or maintaining a “big tent,” and then on the other hand really trying to stick to or imagine more ambitious or even radical policy positions that vulnerable groups within the base of the party care about.
  • The Coretta Scott King Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime

    The Coretta Scott King Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime

    The Coretta Scott King Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement Jury Manual June 2016 Coretta Scott King Books Awards Committee Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Roundtable American Library Association TABLE OF CONTENTS The Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement Virginia Hamilton 1 The Purpose 2 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee Chair Responsibilities 2 JURY DUTY CSK-VHALA Jury Chair Responsibilities 2 Jury Chair’s Deliberation Checklist 4 Juror Responsibilities 5 Conflict of Interest 5 Confidentiality 5 Guidelines for Jurors 5 Relationships with Publishers 6 Duties of Jurors 6 Terms of Service and Meeting Attendance6 THE DECISION PROCESS Communication Overview 7 Guidelines for Electronic Communication 7 Access to Materials 7 Note Taking 7 Nominating Potential Award Winners8 Balloting Process8 APPENDICES A. Sample Calendar B. Criteria, Author/Illustrator Category C. Criteria, Practitioner Category D. Recommendation Form (Author/ Illustrator Award) E Jury Nomination Form (Author/Illustrator Award) F. Nomination Form (Practitioner Award) G. Book Notes H. Author/Illustrator Justification I. Balloting Process J. Ballot: Author/Illustrator K. Ballot: Practitioner L. Voting Tally Sheet: Author/Illustrator Award and Practitioner Award M. Sample Employer/Supervisor Information The Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement Virginia Hamilton Born in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1936, Virginia Hamilton was a pioneering and innovative voice in the creation of books for children and young adults. Her distinguished and notable books feature American people of African descent. Ms. Hamilton’s thirty-five books, spanning three decades, reach across genres to include picture books, folktales, mysteries, science fiction, realistic fiction, contemporary novels and biographies. Virginia Hamilton and her husband, poet Arnold Adoff, had two children, daughter Leigh and son Jamie.
  • Celebrating Ella Baker and Her “Group-Centered Leadership”

    Celebrating Ella Baker and Her “Group-Centered Leadership”

    Celebrating Ella Baker and Her “Group-Centered Leadership” Reading One Ella Josephine Baker: A Brief Biography In recent years, groups in many different parts of the country—from North Carolina to Virginia to Maryland to New York—have lobbied local governments to commemorate a woman who was almost universally revered within the civil rights movement, but is less familiar to most Americans today: Ella Baker. While well-known figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. deserve to be honored, the life of Ella Baker highlights a different model of leadership and gives insight into the long and patient work of building social movements. While King is justly remembered as a powerful preacher and rousing orator, a political strategist and practitioner of nonviolent direct action, Baker calls attention to a more specific role: that of the organizer. Baker had a hand in building many of the most important organizations of the civil rights movement. She defied traditional gender roles of the time and elevated the contributions of women. She believed in deprioritizing charismatic leadership from above and instead empowering local participants to take charge of their own struggles for freedom. To understand Ella Baker’s life and work, it is important to understand her origins. Peter Dreier, a distinguished professor of political science at Occidental College, related the beginning of Baker’s story in an article for the Huffington Post: Born in 1903, Baker grew up in rural North Carolina not far from where her grandparents had been slaves. As a girl, Baker listened to her grandmother tell stories about slave revolts.
  • Community Conversations

    Community Conversations

    Conversations in Community Change Voices from the Field Edited by Max O. Stephenson Jr. and Cathy Grimes The Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance launched an experiment in 2011 called the Community Voices initiative. Community Voices was a student-led group devoted to bringing graduate students and faculty from diverse backgrounds into thoughtful dialogue with leaders who have devoted their professional lives to spurring or assisting with community change. This book is the product of those conversations. Conversations in Community Change features 12 interviews conducted by members of Community Voices, since renamed the Community Change Collaborative (CCC). The interviewees are leaders who have worked in many different contexts across the public, nonprofit, and for- profit sectors to instigate meaningful change (democratic social, political and economic) in their communities. The animating idea behind these interviews is that those in search of peaceful democratic social change, especially amidst ongoing economic and social dislocation, have much to learn from one another within the United States and internationally, and at all levels of governance. Among the topics and initiatives discussed in the book: • Efforts to secure civil and human rights for groups that have historically experienced discrimination, • How food system pioneers are seeking to make alternatives to the present corporate-dominated food production framework real for growers and consumers alike, • How the arts can open up new public and private spaces to permit reconsideration of otherwise dominant assumptions and thinking, • The social exigencies created by capitalism’s constant economic dislocation and roiling, Ultimately, readers will come away from the book with a fuller appreciation for the complexities of democratic change—and the need for modesty, patience, and perseverance among those who would seek to lead or encourage such efforts.
  • The Struggle for Voting Rights in Mississippi ~ the Early Years

    The Struggle for Voting Rights in Mississippi ~ the Early Years

    The Struggle for Voting Rights in Mississippi ~ the Early Years Excerpted from “History & Timeline” Mississippi — the Eye of the Storm It is a trueism of the era that as you travel from the north to the south the deeper grows the racism, the worse the poverty, and the more brutal the repression. In the geography of the Freedom Movement the South is divided into mental zones according to the virulence of bigotry and oppression: the “Border States” (Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, and the urban areas of Maryland); the “Mid South” (Virginia, the East Shore of Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas); and the “Deep South” (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana). And then there is Mississippi, in a class by itself — the absolute deepest pit of racism, violence, and poverty. During the post-Depression decades of the 1940s and 1950s, most of the South experiences enormous economic changes. “King Cotton” declines as agriculture diversifies and mechanizes. In 1920, almost a million southern Blacks work in agriculture, by 1960 that number has declined by 75% to around 250,000 — resulting in a huge migration off the land into the cities both North and South. By 1960, almost 60% of southern Blacks live in urban areas (compared to roughly 30% in 1930). But those economic changes come slowly, if at all, to Mississippi and the Black Belt areas of Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. In 1960, almost 70% of Mississippi Blacks still live in rural areas, and more than a third (twice the percentage in the rest of the South) work the land as sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and farm laborers.