Littleton’s own Ella J. Baker known for her activism and advocacy for human rights is being recognized for her economic impact as a leader and organizer of food and housing cooperatives. The influences from her childhood years in Halifax and Warren Counties have proven to be ingrained in Baker’s style of organizing in both social and economic development to support self-sustainability among people of low wealth and under resourced with a respect for the dignity of the communities affected.

On October 6 at the National Press Club in Washington DC, Ella J. Baker was inducted as the first Unsung Cooperative Hero into the Cooperative Hall of Fame, the cooperatives community’s most prestigious honor. A collaboration formed to recognize this honor in her hometown of Littleton.

The Ella Baker Educational Project of NC, the Carolina Common Enterprise, the Ella Baker Women’s Center, and Lakeland Cultural Arts Center will host a celebratory networking reception and program at the Lakeland Theater on October 28 beginning at 4:00pm. The lobby gallery of the theater will have an Ella Baker exhibit showing important moments in her life, legacy effecting economic and social developments, and a call to action for the cooperative movement.

Executive Director Peter Holloway says “Lakeland Cultural Arts Center is honored to host this celebration of the remarkable life and legacy of Ella Baker.”

Program speakers will include researchers and cooperative movement leaders.

This is a free event open to community leaders and the public that have an interest in learning more about Ella Baker, the Cooperative Movement for guidance about food cooperatives or a housing cooperative as a viable consideration in the delivery of affordable housing as well as other applications of its principals in organizing.

Registration to attend is required: Eventbrite.

After the program guests are encouraged to get dinner at one of the local eateries and return to the theater for Mike Wiley’s compelling solo performance of “Breach of Peace.”

For more information, visit www.Lakelandcac.org.

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When strangers travel the rural roadways of Warren County, few would imagine that this land was once the site of a remarkable experiment in city-building.

In the late 1960s, Soul City—a visionary project spearheaded by the Civil Rights activist Floyd McKissick—began to emerge from the farmlands of an old antebellum plantation. McKissick and his partners marshaled federal and private funds to begin building a new town from the ground up, believing that the best way to realize the potential of communities whose futures had been consistently denied by racist systems was to give those communities a chance to collaborate, create, and thrive. And so Soul City was born.

The dream blossomed with the early building of infrastructure, homes, businesses, a health clinic, and more, laying the foundation for a vibrant new community, and drawing many who shared McKissick’s vision to Warren County. The ambitious project, though, eventually fell victim to the very forces that Soul City’s planners had so hoped to avoid. White supremacy claimed another victory in Warren County. But only over the actual construction. The dream of progressive possibility—of self-realization and community empowerment—stayed very much alive.

Warren County has long served as a home for such dreams among its Black communities. Tales told from the days of enslavement recount the stories of Black women and men who challenged their status and claimed (by force when necessary) their personhood and their futures. The post-Emancipation years witnessed an explosion of school building and commercial creativity, charting a legacy of progressive community building that stretched well into the 20th century. It should come as no surprise that the state’s first Black representative to the United States Congress came from Warren County, or that that one of the region’s most widely applauded teacher-training schools for African Americans began in Warrenton. Civil Rights pioneer Ella Baker—who is widely credited as a key founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—hailed from Warren County, as did Eva Clayton, who in 1992 became the first Black congressional representative from North Carolina since 1901. The dream has deep roots here.

The desegregation struggles of the 1960s, the founding of the community radio station WVSP, the birth of the environmental justice movement with the PCB protests—Warren County has long been a site of progressive political thinking and pointedly anti-racist community action. The “Black Progressive Thought” panel addresses this legacy, bringing together a group of activists, community developers, educators and policy analysts to reflect on the past and imagine a new future, demonstrating the vibrant connections between today’s Black Lives Matter struggles and a proud local history that’s often been underappreciated, in large part because it’s been so carefully erased.

Panel Moderator:
Crystal Myrick – Founder, publisher, and editor of The Warrenist

Panelists:
Eva Clayton – 5-term Congresswoman representing N.C.’s 1st District in the U.S. House of Representatives, and head of the consulting firm, Eva Clayton Associates International
Jennie Ann Johnson Franklin – Community historian, and longtime public school educator
Valeria Lee – Former president of the Golden Leaf Foundation, former Program Officer of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, and General Manager and Co-founder of the public radio station WVSP
Lew Myers – Former Senior Executive of the Soul City Company, and Former Partner and Director of Business Development for the Freelon Group

The “Black Progressive Thought” discussion takes place on Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 11am at the Warren County Memorial Library (119 S. Front Street, Warrenton, NC).

The “Liberating Futures” series is a collaborative project of The 1921 Project, the Warren County Branch of the NAACP, the Warren County African American Historical Collective, UNC’s Descendants Project, and UNC’s Humanities for the Public Good Initiative.

This event is free and open to the public.

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What do you get when you combine the prowess of a Civil Rights leader and the musical styling of a New Orleans bounce music queen?

You get Ella Baker Shaker, a new single from a compilation all about celebrating Black Joy called The Black Joy Experience Vol 2: Comrade led by Johnathan Lykes and featuring THE Big Freedia.

Coined “The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” Ella Josephine Baker’s career spanned more than five decades. Her impact was felt and known especially in New York City and the South, where she worked alongside some of the most noted Civil Rights leaders of the 20th century, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr. She also mentored many emerging activists, such as Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, and Bob Moses, as leaders in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Ella Baker

Baker’s hometown was Norfolk, VA; however, her childhood home is located in Littleton, NC. Each year in April, organizations such as the NAACP commemorate Ella Baker Day throughout the country.

Trust, Ella Baker Shaker doesn’t replace an actual history lesson about the dynamic figure, but it does serve to build awareness about an influential (and local) member of the Human Rights movement.

Celebrate Ella Baker Day on Friday, April 8th at 9am for the dedication of the new Historic Highway Marker at 158 NC Highway 903 in Littleton, NC.

Learn more about Ella Baker and her contributions by visiting the Ella Baker Center website or the Ella Baker Educational Project of NC.

Jonathan Lykes – Ella Baker Shaker (Feat.) Big Freedia

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