Therefore, Horton was acting as a “group-centered leader” who allowed the parents to find their own voice.Freire P. If the expert had simply told the parents what to do, then the next time they were placed in this situation, they would not have had the skills necessary to put together a solution independently of the lawyer. I wanted the expert to tell them the facts and let them decide what to do,” (Horton and Freire, 1990, p. He recalls, “I didn’t want the expert to tell them what to do. After teaching the parents the information, the lawyer wanted to give them legal advice on what their next steps should be, however, Horton intervened.

Horton brought in one of his friends, a lawyer, to come to give them some legal information about how they could file a lawsuit. He relays an experience he had where a group of parents was having issues with an “integrated” system that was not treating their students fairly. Instead, the leader must simply supply the individual with the tools necessary to come up with decisions on their own. In We Make the Road by Walking, Myles Horton emphasizes the importance of this tactic and how to veer away from merely using one’s own expertise to provide an answer.

Myles Horton began the Highlander Folk School in 1932 to educate activists. It is evident from these three organizers that in order to become a “group-centered leader”, the leader must build techniques that strive to create independent thinkers who are able to find their own voice and solve problems without always having their leader present. In addition to Ella Baker, other activists such as Myles Horton and Paulo Freire in We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change also build on the idea of a “group-centered leader” even in other contexts such as relating to education. In both Charles Payne’s “Ella Baker and Models of Social Change” and Carol Mueller’s “Ella Baker and the Origins of ‘Participatory Democracy’”, Ella Baker’s idea of a “group-centered leader” identifies the goals of a leader or an organizer.

This poses the question, then, of what is the purpose of a leader. The goal of becoming a leader, an educator, or an organizer, is not to be the strongest, the most overpowering, or even the most knowledgeable. Įlla Baker stated, “‘Strong people don’t need strong leaders,’” (Baker, quoted by Payne, 1989, p.

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