Who was Anne Braden?

Anne Braden (1924-2006) was a Louisville journalist, organizer, and educator who was among the earliest and most dedicated white allies of the southern civil rights movement.  For 60 years, Braden and her husband Carl used the power of the printed word to advance human rights movements across the U.S. South.

She was commended by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and she was a key adult adviser to 1960s youth in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).  Her central message was whites’ responsibility to combat racism.  A mentor to several generations of racial justice activists, in her final years Braden taught social justice history at Northern Kentucky University and at the University of Louisville.

“When the civil rights struggle engulfed the South, Anne Braden was one of the courageous few who crossed the color line to fight for racial justice.  Her history is a proud and fascinating one…Anne Braden is indeed a ‘subversive southerner’—a label she can wear with pride because she spent her life fighting to build a New South, where all our people could live together in freedom and equality.”
~ Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

More About Anne Braden

  • Anne Braden: Advocate, Radical and Revolutionary
    This page was created by Katy Campbell, a local high school student who conducted research at the ABI. Her website won first place in the National History Day regional competition held at University of Louisville on March 17, 2012.