Ella Baker
Veteran community organizer Ella Baker guided the evolution of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at Shaw University in April 1960. Baker encouraged the students to look beyond “hamburger” politics of lunch counter sit-ins. She challenged them to connect people’s personal troubles to larger social issues and to reach out to women and youth. Baker helped SNCC flourish by mentoring Bob Moses, Diane Nash, Julian Bond, and other student leaders. She emphasized personal connections and encouraged SNCC to build on the talents of local people.

Alcorn State University is the oldest public historically black land-grant institution in the United States and the second-oldest state-supported institution of higher learning in Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 to educate the descendants of formerly enslaved Mississippians.
Explores the lives of free African Americans in the pre-Civil War South