Ella Baker Quotes (9 Quotes)

Strong people don't need strong leaders.

The best country in the world, you hear them say. I guess it may be. I haven't lived anywhere else. But it's not good enough as far as l'm concerned.

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. . .

Give light and people will find the way.

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.

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 . . .

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.

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.

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.