Ella Baker – ‘The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement’

March 13, 2020

|In Black History in Two Minutes (or so), Season 1

Be Woke Presents Black History in Two Minutes (or so)

After graduating from Shaw University, Ella Baker moved to New York City and began her career as a grassroots organizer. Joining the NAACP in 1940, the Virginia native assisted in developing some of the brightest minds in the Civil Rights Movement.

Baker charged people like Rosa Parks to stand up and speak out. Through her organizing efforts, she assisted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the creation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was helping to build the Civil Rights Movement. After a string of sit-ins in the 1960s, she joined a group of students who would go on to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Baker ignited the fight in a generation of young Americans who would go on to risk their own freedom for the advancement and equality of all black people.

Hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr.— with additional commentary from Farrah Griffin of Columbia University, Diane Nash, and Rep. John Lewis — we sing the highest praises to the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. This freedom fighter’s tireless commitment to liberty paved the way for the freedoms we have today.

Black History in Two Minutes (or so) is a 4x Webby Award winning series.

If you haven’t already, please review us on Apple Podcasts! It’s a helpful way to for new listeners to discover what we are doing here: Podcast.Apple.com/Black-History-in-Two-Minutes/

• Archival Materials Courtesy of:
• Alamy Images
• Associated Press
• Getty Images
• The NAACP

Additional Footage Courtesy of:
• Inkwell Films, Kunhardt & WNET

Additional Archival by:
• The Times and Democrat

Executive Producers:
• Robert F. Smith
• Henry Louis Gates Jr.
• Dyllan McGee
• Deon Taylor

Produced by:
• William Ventura
• Romilla Karnick

Music By:
• Oovra Music

Follow Black History in Two Minutes on Facebook

Follow Black History in Two Minutes on Instagram

Subscribe to Black History in Two Minutes Youtube Channel

‘Black History in Two Minutes’ is also available on Apple and Google podcasts.