Barbara Ransby chronicles Ella Baker's long political career as an organizer, intellectual and teacher, from her early experiences in depression-era Harlem to the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s. She paints a picture of the African American fight for justice and its intersections with progressive struggles worldwide in the 20th century.
An award-winning biography of Ella Baker (1903-1986), one of the most important African American leaders of the twentieth century and perhaps the most influential woman in the civil rights movement. Baker was a gifted grassroots organizer whose remarkable career spanned fifty years and touched thousands of lives. She was a key figure in the NAACP, a founder of the SCLC, and a prime mover in the creation of SNCC.