Ella Baker is known for mentoring many young activists and helping form which organization?

• A. SNCC
• B. CORE
• C. SCLC
• D. NAACP

Answer: (A)

Ella Baker’s approach centers on empowering people at the grassroots and letting those closest to the issue lead the work. She mentored a generation of young activists and stressed that leadership should come from ordinary people who organize together, not from a single heroic figure or from above.

This mindset helped bring about the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a student-led civil rights organization established in 1960. Baker encouraged students who had organized sit-ins and other actions to create their own group with a focus on democratic participation, decentralized leadership, and hands-on, local action. The idea was that students would govern their efforts and sustain momentum through their own networks, training, and organizing.

Other groups—like CORE, SCLC, and the NAACP—were more traditional in structure or strategy, often led by a core leadership or focused on legal challenges. SNCC’s emphasis on youth leadership and grassroots, participatory organizing reflects Baker’s influence and set it apart as the movement’s student-driven arm.