Ella Baker famous quotes

04-23-2025

Give light and people will find the way.
-- Ella Baker

#Positivity #Light #People
Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother's sons, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.
-- Ella Baker

#Mother #Country #Believe
There is also the danger in our culture that because a person is called upon to give public statements and is acclaimed by the establishment, such a person gets to the point of believing that he is the movement.
-- Ella Baker

#Believe #Giving #Culture
Oppressed people, whatever their level of formal education, have the ability to understand and interpret the world around them, to see the world for what it is, and move to transform it.
-- Ella Baker

#Moving #People #World
In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed... It means facing a system that does not lend its self to your needs and devising means by which you change that system.
-- Ella Baker

#Meaningful #Self #Order
You didn't see me on television, you didn't see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is, strong people don't need strong leaders.
-- Ella Baker

#Strong #Play #Organization
One of the things that has to be faced is the process of waiting to change the system, how much we have got to do to find out who we are, where we have come from and where we are going.
-- Ella Baker

#History #Waiting #African American
I have always felt it was a handicap for oppressed peoples to depend so largely upon a leader, because unfortunately in our culture, the charismatic leader usually becomes a leader because he has found a spot in the public limelight.
-- Ella Baker

#Leader #Culture #Slavery
We who believe in freedom cannot rest.
-- Ella Baker

#Believe
Remember, we are not fighting for the freedom of the Negro alone, but for the freedom of the human spirit a larger freedom that encompasses all mankind.
-- Ella Baker

#Fighting #Civil Rights #Spirit
The major job was getting people to understand that they had something within their power that they could use, and it could only be used if they understood what was happening and how group action could counter violence.
-- Ella Baker

#Jobs #Power #People
My theory is, strong people don't need strong leaders.
-- Ella Baker

#Strong #War #People
I didn't break the rules, but I challenged the rules.
-- Ella Baker

#Break

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