© The University of Tennessee Special Collections Library

Linear feet: The collection occupies 9 linear feet of shelf space.

Administrative Information

Provenance: This manuscript collection was presented to the University of Tennessee Library in 1968 by Carl and Anne Braden. The collection is part of the actual files belonging to the Bradens. The bulk of the Braden Papers had previously been given to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

Copyright statement: Copyright © 2001. The University of Tennessee Libraries. All Rights Reserved. Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these materials for educational, research, and not-for-profit purposes, without fee and without a signed licensing agreement, is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph appear in all copies, modifications, and distributions. For commercial license to use contact, University of Tennessee Libraries, Office of the Dean, Permissions, 1015 Volunteer Boulevard, Knoxville, TN 37996-1000.

Scope and Content: The papers of Carl and Anne Braden, civil rights workers with the Southern Conference Educational Fund, number approximately 4700 items and occupy 9 linear feet of shelf space. The material covers their work in the civil rights program throughout America from 1947 to 1967.
The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, news letters, financial records, mailing lists and court records relating to their work with the SCEF and the civil rights program in general. There are also two tape recordings of the proceedings of the Washington Conference on Voting Restrictions in 1960. The collection also includes copies of Anne Braden's book The Wall Between in Polish and Italian. Containers one through five are organized in subject files alphabetically. Box number six contains miscellaneous pamphlets and newspaper clippings; notebooks; tape recordings; and assorted address cards. The copies of Mrs. Braden's book, The Wall Between, are classified and can be located through the card catalog.

Biographical Note/Information: Carl Braden is a field organizer for the Southern Conference Educational Fund, New Orleans, and assistant editor of the Southern Patriot, published by SCEF. SCEF is a Southwide organization of white and black citizens dedicated to action to end segregation and discrimination based on race, creed, color, or national origin. It has been in existence since 1938. The president is the Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth, who is also President of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and a noted leader in Birmingham.
The Southern Patriot covers events in the field of civil rights all over the South. It also tells about the people who are active in the movement. The editor is Mrs. Anne Braden, wife of Carl Braden. Mrs. Braden is the author of The Wall Between, a book on race relations based on the Bradens' experiences in Louisville, Ky., after they helped a Negro family to buy a house in a so-called white area. Carl Braden was sentenced to 15 years in prison as a result of this episode but was freed by court action after serving 8 months. In 1959 he refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee in Atlanta, Ga., and was sentenced to a year in prison for contempt. He served 9 months of this.
Braden's work takes him all over the South, however, he concentrates his efforts mostly in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, and Kentucky. He was under injunction not to work for integration in Alabama but he refused to obey the injunction and it was dropped in 1963. He has been before investigating committees in Mississippi and Florida and has been attacked by similar bodies in Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and Virginia. This results from his work of organizing white and Negro integrationists throughout the area.
He was a newspaperman for 24 years prior to the sale of the house in Louisville in 1954. Newspapers for which he has worked include The Louisville Courier Journal, The Cincinnati Enquirer, and the Chicago Tribune, as well as Newsweek. He has also edited several labor newspapers.

Series/Container List

Box 1
ACLU - American Civil Liberties Union.
AOCR - Allied Organization for Civil Rights.
Albany, Georgia.
American Peace Crusade -- China.
American Soviet Relations.
Ashton, Steve.
Bevel, Diane Nash.
Birmingham, Alabama.
Birmingham Conference, April, 1962.
Bluefield, Kentucky, 1965.
Book Club.
Book Reviews.
Braden, Anita Fund-- Contributors.
Braden, Anita -- Sympathy Notes.
Braden - General Correspondence (2 folders).
Braden - South End Savings & Loan vs. J. I. Rone, C. J. & A. M. B and A. E. & C. Wade, 1954.
Braden - Kentucky vs. Carl and Anne Braden.
Braden - Trial Evidence, 1954.
Braden - Trial Transcripts, 1954.
Braden - Trial Testimony Transcripts, 1954 (3 folders).
Braden, Carl vs. Lady, Porter B., 1955.
Braden, Carl - Clemency petitions & press releases.
Braden, Carl - Trial, 1959.
Braden, Carl - Clemency petition, 1961.
Braden, Carl - Petition signers.
Braden - Miscellaneous.
Brown, John Memorial
COFO, Council of Federated Organizations.
CORE - Congress of Racial Equality.
Cairo, Illnois.

Box 2
Capital Punishment.
Car.
Chace Case, 1964.
Chapel Hill Conference, 1961.
Chapel Hill Speeches.
Charleston Gazette, 1965.
Christmas Card List, 1958.
Church Activity.
Civil Liberties Conference, 1963.
Civil Rights - General (2 folders).
Civil Rights Bill.
Civil Rights Legislation.
Clark - Foreman Correspondence, 1946-49.
Committee of First Amendment Defendant, 1960.
Committee to Preserve American Freedoms - Chicago.
Communist Book Invoices.
Council of Labor Votes.
Dady, Bill.
Danville, Virginia, 1963.
Declaration of Civil Rights.
Detroit, Michigan.
Dombrowski, James A. (2 folders).
ECLC - Emergency Civil Liberties Committee.
ESCRU - Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity.
Eastland, Sen. James O. - Income and Job Security Committee.
Endenton, North Carolina.
Facts for Farmers.
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Federated Press - through 1954.
Filibuster.
Florida.
Flynn and Lawrence.
Folk Songs.
Forum on Peace - Women's Chapter.
Foundry Workers' Union.
Frankfort Trip Registration Cards.
Freedom Democratic Party.
Freedom Now Party.
Freedom Walk.
Front Royal, Virginia, 1959.

Box 3
Gadsden, Alabama.
Georgia.
Giles - Johnson Defense Committee, 1963.
Goldwater, Barry.
HUAC - House Un-American Activities Committee, Abolition of.
HUAC - Citizens' Committee to Preserve American Freedoms - California, 1959.
HUAC - Anti-HUAC Pamphlets.
HUAC - Miscellaneous.
Halifax County, North Carolina.
Harris, Rev. Curtis, 1962.
Highland Folk School, 1938-39.
Highlander, 1959-65.
Indians.
Inter - Agency Committee.
Inter Racial Hospital Movement.
Jackson, Mississippi.
Jones, Ashton.
Jones, Robert Jr. and Brown, John Jr.
Kennedy Assassination.
Kennedy, John F. and Nixon, Richard.
Kentucky Integration.
Kentucky Legislative Activity.
Kerr - Trumbo - Smith - Dady Trial, Nov., 1964.
King, Martin L. and Prattis, P. L.
Koinonia Farm; Americus, Georgia.
Ku Klux Klan
Labor Relations.
Labor's Voice, 1948-50.
Lassiter, Louise.
"Life with Lyndon."
Little Rock, Arkansas.
Louisiana.
Louisville, Kentucky.
Louisville, Kentucky Industrial Survey.
Lomax, Lewis.
Lozoya, Rodolfo.
McHugh, Birdie - 1961.
Mailing Lists.
Massachusetts.
Melish, Rev. W. H.
Militant Church Movement.
Mississippi.
Mississippi, 1962.
Mississippi, 1963.
Mississippi, 1964.
Mississippi, 1965.
Mississippi Free Press.
Monroe Defense Committee - Mae Mallory Case.
NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
NBC - National Broadcasting Company.
NAIRO - National Association of Intergroup Relations Officials
National Lawyers' Guild.
Negro Labor Council.
News Media Workshop.
Newspaper Guild.
Non - Violence.
Norfolk Conference, 1963.
North Carolina.

Box 4
Operation Freedom.
PTA - Parents & Teachers Association.
Peace Walk.
Peoples' Congress.
Perdue.
Photographs.
Progressive Party.
Pupil Placement Laws.
Race Relations.
Randolph - Macon Women's College.
Restaurant Survey.
Race Relation Journal of South America, 1959.
Rockwell, Norman - Interview in "Realist", June, 1961.
Roosevelt, F. D.
Roosevelt, Mrs. F. D.
SCEF, Attacks on Southern Conference Educational Fund.
SCEF, Accused Communist Clippings.
SCEF Bank Statements 9/57 to 9/59.
SCEF Board 1957 - 60.
SCEF - Committee on Relationships with other Agencies.
SCEF Contributors.
SCEF Expenses 1957 - 59.
SCEF History.
SCEF - Miscellaneous Legal Documents.
SCEF Raids.
SCEF News Releases, 1956 - 66.
SCEF Projects, 1959.
SCEF Financial Reports, 1942 - 60.
SCEF Student Projects.
SCEF Voting Reports.
SCEF - Voting Restrictions.

Box 5
SCHW - Southern Conference on Human Welfare.
SCLC - Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
SNCC - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
SSOC - Southern Student Organizing Committee.
Sedition Bill, 1958.
Segregation Propaganda.
Selma, Alabama., 1965.
Shuttlesworth, Rev. F. L.
Socialist Party - Socialist Unity Forum, 1957.
Socialist Youth Organization.
South Africa.
Southern Newsletter, 1956 - 59.
Southern Patriot.
Southern Patriot Special Edition, Feb., 1963.
Southern Reporting Service.
Student Movement.
"Student Voice" - SNCC Newspaper.
Students for a Democratic Society.
Swann, Marjorie.
Talledega, Alabama.
Tax - exempt Foundation.
Taylor, Herman & Mitchell, Samuel.
Taylor, Sen. Glenn Trial, 1949.
Teacher Integration.
Tennessee.
Texas.
Thomas Jefferson Medal.
Tribute to Southern Women.
Tuskekee.
U. N. & Peace.
Virginia.
Voting Project.
Wade, Andrew - Brochures.
Wade, Andrew - News Releases.
Wade, Andrew - Official Transcript of Jefferson County Jury Investigation of Sept., 1954 of the explosion.
Wade, Andrew - Statement Nov. 8, 1954.
The Wall Between Correspondence.
The Wall Between Galley Proofs.
The Wall Between Reviews & letters.
Washington Conference on Voting Restrictions, April, 1958.
The World of Andrew Wade by Anne Braden.
Williams, Aubrey.
Williams, Aubrey - Roosevelt Reception,
N. Y., 1958.
Zellnor, John Robert.

Box 6
Miscellaneous pamphlets & newspaper clippings.
Notebooks.
Tape Recordings.
Address Cards