Southern Anti-Racism Network (SARN)

Ella Baker Tour & Retreat

Purpose of Ella Baker Tour & Retreat
To commemorate and reinvigorate the influence of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) by enlisting students and young activists to organize events for a multicultural, intergenerational dialogue. At the 75th anniversary of Highlander Research and Education Center (in 2007), a gathering of SNCC veterans and young activists embraced the idea of the Ella Baker-SNCC Tour and Retreat.

About the Tour
Young activists between the ages of 16 and 35 will speak on their organizing projects and their aims to participate in movements for social change.

Events will feature music and songs from the civil rights era and original creations by young activists and poets. Audience participants will sing "Ella’s Song" and "We Shall Overcome" at each event.

Ella Baker Tour, East Tennessee State University, February 18, 2008.

Tour Participants

Civil Rights Movement Vets	Campus Organizers
Sandra Adickes	Ash-Lee Henderson (ETSU*)
Sam Anderson	Jared Story (ETSU*)
Joan Browning	Nikki Jones (NCSU*)
Isaac Coleman	Wende Nichols (NCSU*)
Guy & Candie Carawan	Tom Leventhal (NCSU*)
Connie Curry	Harry Phillips (CPCC*)
Theresa El-Amin	Nate Franco (Hunter College)
Bob Fullilove	Nnenna Okeke (Rutgers University)
Ira Grupper	Sara Mersha (Brown University)
Nellie Hester	Emily Taylor (Brown University)
Matt Jones	Ashley Dozier (Winthrop University)
Nana Nantambu	Chimi Boyd (North Carolina Central University)
Chuck Neblett	Renee Brown (North Carolina Central University)
Efia Nwangaza	Mike Munger (Duke University)
Gwen Patton	Juanita Scott (University of Louisville)
Al Pertilla	Bryan Proffit (Hillside High School)
Constancia Dinky Romilly	Ray Plaza (Virgina Tech)
Muriel Tillinghast	Kia Caldwell (UNC Chapel Hill)
Annie Pearl Townsend-Avery
Bob Zellner

* ETSU = East Tennessee State University, NCSU = North Carolina State University, CPCC = Central Piedmont Community College (North Carolina)

About the Retreat
The May 20-27, 2008 retreat brought together youth and veteran organizers of the tour for a series of intergenerational sessions at a beach location in North Carolina. Invitations to attend the retreat were extended to other civil rights veterans, cultural organizers and young activists. Co-mentoring was encouraged as an acknowledgment that social justice activists of any age, gender, race and class have something to contribute. It was a time to write, read and rejuvenate.

A special effort was made to provide space for low-income youth and low-income civil rights vets.

Photos from the retreat can be found here.

Who was Ella Baker?
Ella Baker (1903-1986) was an NAACP organizer who is credited with mentoring students who formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960.