I don’t think that the leadership of Montgomery was prepared to capitalize, let’s put it, on the projection that had come out of the Montgomery situation. — Ella Baker

Even if segregation is gone, we will still need to be free; we will still have to see that everyone has a job. Even if we can all vote, but if people are still hungry, we will not be free. — Ella Baker

Singing alone is not enough; we need schools and learning. — Ella Baker

My theory is, strong people don’t need strong leaders. — Ella Baker

Martin wasn’t one to buck forces too much. — Ella Baker

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

Walter White] was also one of the best lobbyist of the period. — Ella Baker

When I came out of the Depression, I came out of it with a different point of view as to what constituted success. And that was even just even personal success. — Ella Baker

This may only be a dream of mine, but I think it can be made real. — Ella Baker

In order to see where we are going, we not only must remember where we have been, but we must understand where we have been. — Ella Baker

During the Depression years, I began to identify to some extent with the unemployed, the organization for the unemployed at that period. — Ella Baker

The struggle is eternal. The tribe increases. Somebody else carries on. — Ella Baker

We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. — Ella Baker

I’ve never credited myself with a professional life. But, basically, it has been that. — Ella Baker

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

Because our children had had the privilege of growing up where they’d raised a lot of food. They were never hungry. They could share their food with people. And so, you share your lives with people. — Ella Baker

I had been friendly with people who were in the Communist party and all the rest of the Left forces, which were oriented in the direction of mass action. — Ella Baker

I think you can find some rationales for that if we look at the background out of which he came. Martin had come out of a highly competitive, black, middle–class background. — Ella Baker

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 son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens. — Ella Baker

Strong people don’t need strong leaders. — Ella Baker

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. — Ella Baker

I didn’t break the rules, but I challenged the rules. — Ella Baker

I have always thought that what is needed is the development of people who are interested not in being leaders as much as in developing leadership in others. — Ella Baker

Give light, and people will find the way. — Ella Baker

Martin Luther] King was one of the two young ministers–and you know how directly oriented the Negro community still is towards the minister as the leader. — Ella Baker

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

I guess the best way to describe that would be to connect with the fact that I came out of college just before the big Depression, and I came to New York. — Ella Baker

How did I make a living? I haven’t. I have eked out an existence. — Ella Baker