Mission Statement
Ella's Daughters is a multi-racial, multi-national, intergenerational network of women activists, scholars, artists and workers advancing justice in Ella Baker's democratic tradition and facilitating connections between different social justice movements. We embrace Ella Baker's Humanistic practice that affirms the dignity and worth of all people and also embrace the creative spirit of our collective imagination as a powerful force to help not only oppose the politics of domination but also to envision and realize something better.As a feminist network of women with a global vision, our overarching goal is to connect, to make visible, and to facilitate collaborations and the sharing of information and resources among already existing and emergent organizations and campaigns. We do this in a variety of ways which include convening annual gatherings of activists constituting Ella's Daughters to share ideas, strategize, and support each other's activist work and organizing; hosting skill-building and political theory workshops; publicizing on-going social justice work through website and publicity campaigns; and convening informal gatherings to connect people with other individuals and resources that can facilitate the launching of new projects. As a collective, advancing awareness about Baker and those with whom she worked is an integral part of our mission.
We believe that by quilting our movement work together and nurturing the relationships that make radical transformation possible, we will empower ourselves and the movements in which we work to eradicate any system of domination that seeks to rob people of their right to life, agency, and pleasure. Like Ella Baker, we may be situated within particular organizations or institutions, but our work is accountable to a broader vision of a world that lives up to the creativity and dignity of all people. The artists, healers, activists and thinkers in this network are actively working to create a world characterized by racial justice, gender equity, healthy family forms, fully expressed sexuality in all forms, recognition of the wide range of abilities of all people, loving inter-generational connections, sustainable sharing of the resources that are necessary for life on this planet, and peaceful, self-determined relationships between different nations and groups of people, where everyone is rewarded for the work they do. By opening lines of communication, affirmation, strategic sharing and recognition between the diverse women who do such central work in these movements, we are fulfilling Ella Baker's vision for transformation through collective visioning and accountability.