Barbara Ransby > Quotes

“From her perspective, reading, discussions, forums, and lectures were as important to a movement for social change as mass protests, boycotts, and strikes.”
― Barbara Ransby, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision

“To young women, black and white, Baker embodied the possibility of escaping the restrictions that defined conventional femininity. Authoritative yet unassuming, self-confident and assertive, forcing others to take her seriously simply by presuming that they would, Baker was a revelation.”
― Barbara Ransby, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision

“former Confederate leaders had begun to regain political power in the South, staging targeted and effective misinformation campaigns to unseat progressive Blacks like Francis who had managed to secure positions of influence during Reconstruction.”
― Barbara Ransby, Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson

“This may only be a dream of mine, but I think it can be made real.”
― Barbara Ransby, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision

“She was anxious to monitor the political rumblings back home in the United States.28 A new Black leadership was emerging there and changing the social, cultural, and political landscape.”
― Barbara Ransby, Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson