Ella Baker :: essays research papers

Ella bread makerElla Josephine baker was born in Virginia, and at the age of seven Ella bread maker go with her family to Littleton, South Carolina, where they settled on her grandparents farmland her grandparents had worked as slaves. Ella bakers proterozoic life was steeped in grey black culture. Her most vivid childishness memories were of the strong traditions of self-help, mutual cooperation, and share of economic resources that encompassed her entire community. Because there was no local secondary school, in 1918, when Ella was fifteen days old, her parents sent her to Shaw embarkment school in Raleigh, the tall school academy of Shaw University. Ella excelled academically at Shaw, graduating as valedictorian of her college house from Shaw University in Raleigh in 1927. later her graduation from Shaw University, bread maker migrated to parvenue York City on the eve of the commodious Depression, determined to find an liberation for her intellectual curiosity and g rowing ruth for hearty justice. She was deeply moved by the terrible conditions she witnessed on the streets of Harlem during the mid-thirties scenes of poverty, hunger, and desperation.The startle governmental organisation she joined after moving to Harlem was the novel Negroes reconciling League (YNCL), founded by writer George Schuyler in December 1930. The verbalized purpose of the group was to pass on economic power through consumer cooperation. The YNCL was headquartered in New York City. In 1931 Baker was elected to serve as the groups first national director. Another eventful experience that helped to shape Bakers evolving political soul during the Depression was her employment with the Workers study Project (WEP) of the Works Progress organisation (WPA), a program knowing to equip workers with basic literacy skills and to educate them closely topics of concern to members of the work force. During the 1930s, Baker also began to grapple with the issue of women s par and her own identity as an African-American woman. She supported and worked with various womens groups, much(prenominal) as the Womens Day Workers and industrial League, a union for domestic workers the Harlem Housewives Cooperative and the Harlem YWCA. Baker refused to be relegated to a separate "womans sphere," either personally or politically. She often participated, without reservation, in meetings where she was the whole woman present, and many of her closest political allies over the years were men. Similarly, in her personal life Baker refused to comply with prevailing social norms about womens place or womens behavior.Ella Baker essays research papers Ella BakerElla Josephine Baker was born in Virginia, and at the age of seven Ella Baker moved with her family to Littleton, South Carolina, where they settled on her grandparents farmland her grandparents had worked as slaves. Ella Bakers early life was steeped in Southern black culture. Her most vivid child hood memories were of the strong traditions of self-help, mutual cooperation, and sharing of economic resources that encompassed her entire community. Because there was no local secondary school, in 1918, when Ella was fifteen years old, her parents sent her to Shaw boarding school in Raleigh, the high school academy of Shaw University. Ella excelled academically at Shaw, graduating as valedictorian of her college class from Shaw University in Raleigh in 1927.After her graduation from Shaw University, Baker migrated to New York City on the eve of the Great Depression, determined to find an outlet for her intellectual curiosity and growing compassion for social justice. She was deeply moved by the terrible conditions she witnessed on the streets of Harlem during the 1930s scenes of poverty, hunger, and desperation.The first political organization she joined after moving to Harlem was the Young Negroes Cooperative League (YNCL), founded by writer George Schuyler in December 1930. The expressed purpose of the group was to gain economic power through consumer cooperation. The YNCL was headquartered in New York City. In 1931 Baker was elected to serve as the groups first national director. Another important experience that helped to shape Bakers evolving political consciousness during the Depression was her employment with the Workers Education Project (WEP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a program designed to equip workers with basic literacy skills and to educate them about topics of concern to members of the work force. During the 1930s, Baker also began to grapple with the issue of womens equality and her own identity as an African-American woman. She supported and worked with various womens groups, such as the Womens Day Workers and Industrial League, a union for domestic workers the Harlem Housewives Cooperative and the Harlem YWCA. Baker refused to be relegated to a separate "womans sphere," either personally or politically. She often pa rticipated, without reservation, in meetings where she was the only woman present, and many of her closest political allies over the years were men. Similarly, in her personal life Baker refused to comply with prevailing social norms about womens place or womens behavior.