Ella Josephine Baker Selected as First Unsung Cooperative Hero

Ella Josephine Baker, a prominent leader of the civil rights movement, was selected as the first Unsung Cooperative Hero. She will be inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame, the cooperative community’s most prestigious honor, alongside four other inductees on October 6, 2022, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Baker was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1903 and grew up in a close-knit African American community in Warren County, North Carolina where Black people pooled resources to help each other survive and thrive in the aftermath of slavery. 

"We find throughout history that the Black co-op movement was a silent partner in the long civil rights movement - and essential to it. This recognition of Ella Baker reminds us of that relationship, and of the important roles Black women have played in the co-op movement. This new category of Unsung Co-op Heroes in the Co-op Hall of Fame allows us to remember and celebrate the contributions of the most invisible of our co-op leaders.”

Ella Josephine Baker stands out, however, not just for her decades of service, leadership, and inspiration to the cooperative movement, but also for her strategic thinking and effective advocacy for the cooperative model as a comprehensive tool for community self-help. Click here to read more about Ella Josephine Baker