Ella Baker To document Ella Baker's life is to recount the history of the civil rights movement. Whenever there was a cause to fight for or a group to organize, this dedicated women was there. Ella was born 1903, she grew up and received her education in North Carolina. Upon and at one time, president of the New York branch Ella went South in the 1950s to help the civil rights movement as it was developing in Alabama. With 30 years of organizing experience under her belt, Ella's advice to Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders of the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 was invaluable. She stayed South and helped Dr. King