Peace to Ella Baker. She is the woman that mentored Rosa Parks before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She played a key role in the some of the most influential organizations, including the NAACP, Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Ella was eventually promoted to National Director of Branches at the NAACP. From this leadership position, she spoke up about her concerns with the organization. She thought it was too bureaucratic and focused too much on middle-class supporters and membership numbers. To her, the NAACP was out of touch with the Black communities it was trying to serve. Ella saw great potential in SNCC. With its youthful energy, SNCC members worked on the ground, helping people in rural communities vote, educate themselves, and combat racism. Ella served as an advisor, not a leader, in the group. By 1965, tensions in the civil rights movement were growing. The youth grew tired of being nonviolent in the face of violence, with Malcolm X being assassinated in 1965, and Martin Luther King being assassinated in 1968, out from that emerged the Black Power movements of the late 60s & early 70s. While she respected that SNCC was moving in a new direction, she felt it was time for her involvement in the organization to end. The eventual dissolution of SNCC hit Ella hard, but she found ways to stay politically active. Ella Baker died in her sleep on her 83rd birthday on December 13, 1986. Thank you for your contributions.