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Archives & Special Collections (ASC)

Kentucky Alliance Oral History Project: Eddie Davis

Kentucky Alliance Oral History Project

Interview: Eddie Davis

Eddie DavisLifelong Louisville, Kentucky resident Eddie Davis has been an active member of the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression for decades. Davis is a freelance photographer who has captured many important moments of the Alliance’s history on film.

Transcript of clips

Topic: Uniqueness of the Alliance

[22:31] That’s one of the things I like about the Alliance, they do some innovative things, or they teach you how to do innovative things to create social justice or create that climate that moves toward a new social order or a new consciousness. [22:46]

Topic: The Importance of the Carl Braden Memorial Center in the Community

[48:51] I think the future is bright for an organization like the Kentucky Alliance because we’re able to deal with issues that really affect a lot of different organizations and we still try to bring different communities together. I mean, we have international events here, the type of events that take place in the Braden Center take place no place else in Louisville. We’re still really an international political center. And this building is really a historical landmark based on the history of Carl and Anne Braden based on the…I mean if you look at the work that they did during their lifetime and all the activities and events and all the organizations that worked through and out this building, it is a major resource for this town and I will welcome seeing this building declared a historical landmark. [50:04].

Topic: The Men Who Slept with Anne Braden

[52:34]

A: This has been really great, you mentioned several things that I hadn’t heard in other interviews. That’s what keeps me going, every interview I hear about something I hadn’t heard about in another interview before, so…

E: Oh, yeah, we also have this joke about “men who have slept with Anne Braden.” Have you heard that one?

A: [Laughter] No, I hadn’t heard that one.

E: Well, actually, some people did sleep with her. She used to stay here and sleep on the couch. She became very ill and we kind of took shifts sleeping in the building with Anne Braden because she wouldn’t go anywhere.

A: I have heard from Bob [Cunningham] about how she used to do yoga here in the building.

E: Yeah, she used to have an exercise bike in…actually, right there on the floor, she had her exercise bike and she got into yoga.

[53:32]