why it seeps in when we mention the name of ella baker or sammy lou hammer, but i think we have to go deeper. not only were they women, but what did they stand for? what did ella baker and ida mae wells -- they were involved in the protest end and i think that freedom struggle that kendall and peniel talk about, it was not the way to the promised land. we seem to have given that up when we put everything behind all of our wishes in the basket that would elect president obama, but they were leaders, grassroots leaders who understood that their positions were only as significant as they were capable of representing the interests of the people who put them there ella baker said strong people don't need strong leaders. i think we look to communities and groups of people who are organizing in their own interests, who puteconomic justs incarceration and all of these domestic violence, all the things that assault our community, front and center, that should be one litmus test, so the things that assault our community on the daily basis is front and center on the agenda that so-called leaders

that is a comment by ella baker and if you don't know about her i suggested that for her. she was an organized and helped create the student nonviolent square dating committee and she believes you give people the tools, the critical tools for critical thinking and critical organizing to organize themselves and they select leaders who represent them and when those leaders are not representing their interests they get rid of them. really leadership comes from the ability to serve a constituency and a group of people and she believes in the power of communities to organize themselves and to best address their needs in ways that are leaders oftentimes did not. strong people cannot need strong leader she says because they don't need to be led by some charismatic figure. they can democratically decide on the direction of their communities. ella baker is her name and there's a wonderful biography by barbara ransby if you would like to learn more about her. >> host: farah jasmine griffin. "harlem nocturne" is coming out in august. the next panel is just about to begin a second ann

[applause] barbara ransby is the author of a tiger free of ella baker of eslanda robeson and jeanne theoharis the author of the new biography on rosa parks. [applause] we want to start the conversation by talking about rosa parks. what do we know about rosa parks, jane? >> i wanted to start today with an evening meeting. that evening is november 27, 1955. on that november 27 rosa parks came to a meeting at dexter avenue baptist church to hear tm howard, dr. tm howard talked about the recent acquittal of the two killers of emmett till. dr. king introduce fascinating and howard was there to spread the word. howard had been one of the key organizers in trying to get even a trial of those two men and after those men he had been acquitted was on a tour through the country to spread the word and to continue the organizing after that travesty had happened as the two men who had lynched emmett till have been found not guilty. so this is november 27, 1955. rosa parks sits there and she is talking about the lynching of emmett till and he is talking about the deaths of two other organizers in mississipp

[applause] barbara ransby is the author of a tiger free of ella baker of eslanda robeson and jeanne theoharis the author of the new biography on rosa parks. [applause]

we can learn from north carolinian ella baker, who i teach about all the time who created a long-term push for civil rights by knowing people, connecting people, maintaining relationships over time. that is what the civil rights movement was built on. >> and really important, i'm glad you mentioned ella baker because there's no greater name for us to remember in the history of social movements. there's a woman doing the work. not only did she say we they'd to mobilize a new contingent which is now sncc got started. she trusted young people. that was the most important, these young folks, i've been doing it with the old heads, and they have good ideas but young folks, what we're seeing is young folks connecting with older activists in the struggle. that's the kind of thing even if they don't this week, this month, they are going to build a movement. >> you brought up sncc begins in north carolina, greensboro began that aspect of the movement, it's part of what makes the notion of a struggle in north carolina -- this year we have seen before. i'll let you in. >> i agree, this is how mov

that's consistent with the notion that king or malcolm was a saviour, and maybe ella baker can be the saviour. but that mentality of leadership and politics is centering around individuals as opposed to collectives and communities comd movement buildings and organization, and i'm always struck, when i speak to young audiences, struck by the way cartoons and popular culture for children prepare us for that because there's always a single solitary hero that comes in and saves somebody, usually saving a womanment so there's that idea of a hero as leader and saviour, and we mature and we still have that very immature view of politics. i wanted to pick up on what you said about the kinds of positions that people take. i actually was born in detroit the year that rosa parks came to detroit, and so my political awakening was in the context of the detroit rebellion in 1967. i new kenny cockerill, and all of the struggles as a teenager that i watched unfold in detroit, and i think we'd be remiss not a to mention the state of detroit today, the announcement of the bankruptcy of the city of detr

baker and then the black panther party fundamentally shaped who and what i am. was there any particular moment in your life or events in your life or around you in the world at large that cause you to say ok i'm going to do this i'm going to go in history or this this has to be my next no i think in the words of the death of the king june aberforth one nine hundred sixty eight something deep inside of my heart in the heart of many people the specially black people the people to call it die and the question of what would be resurrected what would be reinvigorated given that vicious murder in the the nation of martin king and it was also connected of course to the death of so many anonymous the nameless people struggling at the time and of course assassinations of malcolm x. and. variety of the fred hampton's and bobby hood and the black panther party but the sense of people who were willing to forfeit their lives. for the furtherance of truth and justice those of the best the language did you know john brown november second eight hundred fifty nine in less beach

all colors of brothers and from the very beginning the legacy of martin king and fannie lou hamer and ella baker and then the black panther party fundamentally shaped who and what i am is was there any particular moment in your life or event in your life or around you in the world at large that caused you to say ok i'm going to do this i'm going to go in history or this this has to be my next no i think in the words of the death of the king june aberforth thousand nine hundred sixty eight something deep inside of my heart in the heart of many people the specially black people the people to call it die and the question of what would be resurrected what would be reinvigorated given that vicious murder in the cess a nation of martin king and it was also connected of course to the death of so many anonymous and nameless people struggling at the time and of course assassinations of malcolm x. and. variety of fred hampton's and bobby hood and the black panther party the descendants of people who were willing to forfeit their lives. for the furtherance of truth and justice as those of the best th