4.5

• Black women were central leaders in the work of civil rights, though they often faced sex discrimination within those organizations. Leaders such as Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer stressed the importance of addressing both racial and gender discrimination during the Black Freedom movement, building on a long tradition of Black women activists.
• Ella Baker became known as the “mother of the civil rights movement” for her major impact on the NAACP, the SCLC, and the SNCC. She focused on grassroots organizing and encouraged young people to contribute to social justice efforts that fought both racism and sexism.
• In  her speech at SNCC’s founding in 1960, Ella Baker emphasized the need for group-centered leadership over leader-centered groups in the civil rights movement. She also argued that peaceful sit-ins at lunch counters were about more than access to goods and services; they demonstrated the need for the full inclusion of African Americans in every aspect of American life.
• Dorothy Height led the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years and routinely worked on civil rights projects with the Big Six leaders, including the March on Washington.