This fall has been a powerful display of what is possible when people come together to share a vision for a more just and vibrant future for our communities. As the momentum of the movement for solutions for the 99% continues to grow, it's important to learn about the legacies of organizing and people-power we are building upon and to celebrate the freedom fighters who came before us.

That is why we are thrilled to announce the first annual Ella Baker Center Legacy Event -- the culminating celebration of our 15th anniversary year. Legacies of People-Power will feature a panel of inspiring civil rights veterans discussing the past, present, and future of people-powered movements. Seats are limited so buy your tickets now.

Learn more about our featured speakers:

Cathy Cade grew up in a middle class white family in the Midwest and the South, active in her Unitarian churches. Shortly after arriving in Atlanta as an exchange student to Spelman, she was demonstrating for civil rights with other students of the Atlanta University Center. She spent much of the rest of the semester hanging out at the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee office where she got to hear about and observe the leadership of Ella Baker. After a number of years in the civil rights movement and SDS, Cathy joined the Women’s Liberation Movement, came out as a lesbian and has been photographing the lesbian feminist community for forty years. Her photos from the ‘70s can be seen on line as part of the current exhibit at www.leslielohman.org. She is a member of the Unitarian church in Oakland.

Dolores Huerta continues to work tirelessly developing leaders, advocating for working poor, women and children. She is the co-founder and Secretary-Treasurer of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO ("UFW"). The mother of 11 children, 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, Dolores is currently the President of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

As an advocate for farm worker rights Dolores has been arrested twenty-two times for non-violent peaceful union activities. In 1984 the California State Senate bestowed upon her the Outstanding Labor Leader Award. In 1993 Dolores was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. That same year she received the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award; and the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award, and the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom Award. She is also the recipient of the Consumers’ Union Trumpeter’s Award.

Ericka Huggins is a former member of the Black Panther Party, political prisoner, human rights activist, poet and teacher. As the longest-standing woman in Black Panther Party leadership, from 1967-1981, she brings a complete, unique and honest perspective to the much debated challenges and successes of the Party.

For the past 25 years Ericka has lectured and taught throughout the United States, where her extraordinary life experiences enable her to speak personally and eloquently on issues relating to women and children, youth, incarceration, education, and the role of spiritual practice in sustaining activism and promoting change. Currently Ericka is a professor in Women’s Studies at California State University, East Bay and brings her legacy of spiritual activism and social justice to her teaching. Additionally, she is a Human Diversity consultant for educational and community-based organizations in the Pacific Northwest. A mother of three, with two grandchildren, Ericka lives in Oakland, California.

Miss Major is a black, formerly incarcerated, transgender elder. She has been an activist and advocate in her community for over forty years. She was at the Stonewall uprising in 1969, became politicized at Attica, was an original member of the first all-transgender gospel choir, and is a father, mother, grandmother, and grandfather to her own children, and to many in the transgender community. Currently, Miss Major is the Executive Director of TGI Justice where she instills hope and a belief in a better future to the girls that are currently incarcerated and those coming home.

Barbara Ramsby, Panel Moderator, is an award-winning writer, historian and longtime political activist whose work spans some of the most important contemporary movements in this country. She is most notably the author of the multiple award-winning biography of civil rights activist Ella Baker, entitled Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision.

Ransby co-founded the Black Radical Congress in 1998 and initiated African American Women in Defense of Ourselves in 1991. She also co-founded the Progressive Media Project and has worked on the editorial board of Race and Class journal. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Departments of African American Studies and History.

Make your plans now to join us on December 13th for community and inspiration.