Carl Braden (1914 - 1975)
Wed Jun 24, 1914
Carl Braden, born on this day in 1914, was a left-wing trade unionist, journalist, and activist who was charged with sedition by the state of Kentucky after purchasing a home in an all-white neighborhood on behalf of a black family. He was married to Anne Braden, a prominent civil rights activist in her own right.
In 1954, to sidestep the residential race segregation in Louisville, Kentucky, the Bradens purchased a house in an all-white neighborhood and deeded it over to the Wades, an African-American family who had been unsuccessfully seeking a suburban residence. White segregationists responded by burning a cross in the yard, shooting into the home, and eventually destroying the building entirely with dynamite.
For his role in the affair, Carl Braden was charged with sedition, his work for racial integration being interpreted as an act of communist subversion. He was convicted on December 13th, 1954 and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
Immediately upon his conviction, Carl Braden was fired from his job and blacklisted from local employment. He served seven months of his sentence before he was released on a $40,000 bond, the highest bond ever set in Kentucky up to that time.
On appeal, Carl's case made it to the Supreme Court (Braden v. United States, 1961), which ruled that Braden's conviction was constitutional, although this was later overturned.
In 1967, the Bradens were again charged with sedition for protesting the practice of strip-mining in Pike County, Kentucky.
- Date: 1914-06-24
- Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, snccdigital.org.
- Tags: #Birthdays.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org
Things seem crazy now, like cuckoo banana-pants crazy, but this ain't ancient history either. The government charged this guy with sedition, which means Insurrection against lawful authority, for violation of segregation laws. If you're my age or younger, you don't remember a time where segregation was a thing. It doesn't exist because dudes like this spent their lives fighting racist shit.
What this guy did with his time on earth is staggering. It would have been so easy to do nothing at all, and live quietly.
We are gonna need more Carl Bradens in the near future.
Some people are fucking fearless. Or, possessed of extraordinary courage in the face of fear.