--- title: Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker | TIME description: Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker canonical: https://time.com/video/1VhqliJy/ og:title: Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker og:description: Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker og:url: https://time.com/video/1VhqliJy/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1VhqliJy/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker twitter:description: Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1VhqliJy/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker [Watch (HLS stream): Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1VhqliJy.m3u8) (2:12)  _Published 2014-10-02. Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker_ --- Jul 27, 2023 5:20 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Kanye West's Performance at the T100 Gala](/video/bgVpkdwI/) ### Kanye West's Performance at the T100 Gala [Cornel West Says Barack Obama Isn't Part Of A ](/video/bJOHAZST/) ### Cornel West Says Barack Obama Isn't Part Of A [This Is Cornel West's First Political Memory](/video/PwMY7Ivb/) ### This Is Cornel West's First Political Memory --- ## Transcript So, one thing that was very interesting in your book is you go through Frederick Douglass, and D. E. DuBois, and Dr. King Yeah And then you get to Ella Baker, and I'm like, why her? She's one of the greatest, Ella is one of the greatest, there is no civil rights movement. Without the example, the witness of Ella Baker, she's the executive director of Martin Luther King's organization. She, she's the executive director of SNCC, the young people who broke away from Martin. Ella's love for people, for black people, working people, poor people, and her deep suspicions of Messianic Moses leadership. The charismatic man that people submit to and defer to. She's a Democrat all the way down. She wants all the voices to be heard. And in some ways she's connected to Occupy that I point out in leaderless and leader full. At the same time. Don't we need leaders? The thing about Eller is, I mean, Snick didn't, what, it sort of disintegrated eventually, and, and, it's not like you can go and see fantastic speeches that Eller made. It just doesn't feel like a profit. Yeah, it's because, but, yeah, I understand. It's, it's not effective anymore if you don't have a leader. No, oh no, I think that people lead in a lot of different ways. [ INAUDIBLE ] You can lead quietly by example. And that's what she did. If we would have talked to giants like Bob Moses, still alive. Or if we, if we could talk to Stokely Carmichael or Diane Nash they would say Ella was one of the great leaders. Because you can see by example she was someone who both inspired you, role of leadership, right? Provided guidance by her actions and in conversation. But she's like a jazz musician in that she's antiphonal to call her response. She in conversation. She's not pontificating from above. She's having conversation on a horizontal level. And that's genuine leadership. But it's a different kind of leadership than Martin being. Charismatic and out there. But, for me, there is no Martin King's movement without an Ella Baker's intelligence, imagination, and courageous witness. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker","description":"Cornel West's Thoughts on Ella Baker","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1VhqliJy/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-02T17:21:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1VhqliJy.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/1VhqliJy/","duration":"PT2M12S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/1VhqliJy/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```