Strange Fruit #182: Celebrating Anne Braden's Birthday

This week marked what would have been the 92nd birthday of Louisville civil rights legend Anne Braden. She began as a labor activist, but soon turned her attention to housing equality - or the lack thereof - in Louisville. In 1954, Anne and her husband Carl bought a house in an all-white neighborhood, on behalf of a black couple. That couple, Andrew and Charlotte Wade, had their windows broken when they moved in, and white neighbors burned a cross on their lawn. Days later, the house was dynamited. The Bradens were charged with sedition, while the bombers went unpunished. This week, Dr. Catherine Fos'l, from UofL's Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, joins us to share some of the remarkable story of Anne Braden's life. We talk about what inspired her to activism, and the role of white allies and accomplices in the movement of today. Then we check in with WFPL's Jake Ryan, who reported this week on Louisville's lack of progress in dealing with abandoned and vacant homes.