Solutions to Violence | Bill Allison | ACLU | 7-6-25

Today’s Solutions to Violence program is the first part of a 2 part series that features two extraordinary Kentucky civil right leaders. Bill Allison, a long-time attorney that has worked cooperatively with the Kentucky’s American Civil Liberty Union and Dr. Cate Fosl, University of Louisville emeritus history professor, former director of U of L’s Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies department, former director of the University of Louisville Anne Braden institute and author of several books including Subversive Southerner: Anne Braden and the Struggle Racial Justice during the Cold War. Both Bill Allison and Cate FOSL were the keynote Speakers at the Lyman T. Johnson Dinner sponsored by the Louisville Democratic Socialist of America and held at Louisville’s 1st Unitarian Church June 28th, 2025. The Lyman T. Johnson dinner was established for the purpose of honoring Bill Allison and raising funds for constructing a new building for the Democratic Socialist of America, Louisville chapter. Today’s Solutions to Violence program will feature Bill Allison. As explained by the American Civil Liberty Union of Kentucky’s executive director Amber Duke, Bill Allison was a cooperative ACLU attorney who began his law career with the Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF), an organization closely connected with Carl and Anne Braden. SCEF was a Southern civil rights organization, and so, from the beginning of his career, Allison was involved in civil rights and civil liberties litigation. States Bill Allison “All of the different freedom efforts that we take for granted today came out of the struggle against segregation that had been going on for a long time.”