Anne Braden, a steadfast civil rights supporter and activist, died Monday at the age of 81 at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky.
Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, said, “Anne Braden was a ‘righteous Caucasian’; she understood the necessity of black leadership in an interracial Civil Rights Movement, she understood the necessity of the movements for civil rights, peace of labor rights and marching in solidarity, and she put her understanding into action almost every day of her life.”
Braden and husband Carl came to prominence in 1954 when the couple bought a house in an all-white neighborhood of Louisville and transferred the deed to Andrew Wade, a black World War II veteran. The house was purchased using the Wades’ money, and was bombed a month after the family moved in. A suspect was not named in the bombing, and when the Bradens demanded further police investigation, they were charged with sedition. Carl Braden was convicted, but was released from jail after serving seven months of a 15-year sentence.
Braden published The Wall Between, an account of her experiences in Louisville, in 1958. The book became a finalist for the National Book Award the same year. The book’s second edition, published in 1999, contains a foreword by Julian Bond.
The Bradens strongly supported the Civil Rights Movement, and participated in strategy sessions at the home of Coretta Scott and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. King later praised Braden’s commitment to securing racial equality in his renowned “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”