Third World Women's Alliance and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She remained an activist until her death on December 13, 1986, her 83rd birthday. Thought In the 1960s, the idea of "participatory democracy" became popular among political activists, including those in the Civil Rights Movement. It took the traditional appeal of democracy and added direct citizen participation. The new movement had three primary emphases: An appeal for grassroots involvement of people throughout society, while making their own decisions The minimization of (bureaucratic) hierarchy and the associated emphasis on expertise and professionalism as a basis for leadership A call for direct action as an answer to fear, isolation, and intellectual detachment Baker said: You didn't see me on television, you didn't see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is, strong people don't need strong leaders. According to Mumia Abu-Jamal, Baker advocated a more collectivist model of leadership over the "prevailing messianic style of the period". She was largely arguing against the structuring of the civil rights movement by the organization model of the black church. The black church then had largely female membership and male leadership. Baker questioned not only the gendered hierarchy of the civil rights movement but also that of the Black church. Baker, King, and other SCLC members were reported to have differences in opinion and philosophy during the 1950s and 1960s. She was older than many of the young ministers she worked with, which added to their tensions. She once said the "movement made Martin, and not Martin the movement". When she gave a speech urging activists to take control of the movement themselves, rather than rely on a leader with "heavy feet of clay", it was widely interpreted as a denunciation of King. Baker's philosophy was "power to the people". If members worked together, she believed that a group's force could make significant changes. Legacy Representation in media The 1981 documentary Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker, directed by Joanne Grant, explored Baker's important role in the civil rights movement. Bernice Johnson Reagon wrote "Ella's Song", in Baker's honor, for Fundi. Several biographies have been written of Baker, including Barbara Ransby's Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (2003), published by the University