This is one in a series of profiles marking the 60th anniversary of the ACLU of Kentucky’s founding.  Each week from November 2014 through December 2015 we will highlight the story of one member, client, case, board or staff member that has been an integral part of our organization’s rich history.

Lee B. Thomas, Jr.

“I have tried to stand up for what I believe in.” – Lee B. Thomas, Jr.

Lee B. Thomas, Jr. has garnered a lot of accolades, awards, and attention for his expertise as a CEO, first with the American Saw and Tool Company and Vermont American Corporation, and currently with Universal Woods. Thomas has also been recognized for his work toward peace and social justice, including induction in 2010 in the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame. When you meet Thomas, he won’t tell you about any of this. Instead, he’ll ask questions to learn more about you, and then he’ll show you a picture of his late wife Dr. Joan Thomas, and tell you about their 62 years of marriage, and her work practicing medicine in low-income, under-served communities of Louisville. It is the type of work his wife Joan did, motivated by compassion, and centered on human dignity and respect, that Thomas most wants to emulate in both his business and personal life.

In 1955, Thomas was the first person to provide financial backing to form the Kentucky Civil Liberties Union (KCLU, now known as the ACLU of Kentucky). The financial gift was in response to the sedition charges leveled against Anne and Carl Braden for their purchase of a home on behalf of the African American Wade Family. The case came during the height of the McCarthy era, a time when Thomas writes, “Joe McCarthy and his crowd wrapped themselves up in the American flag and trampled on individual civil liberties.” Though Thomas disagreed with the Bradens’ politics he put up money to defend them and get the KCLU off the ground because he recognized the charges against the Bradens “as a threat to all liberty-loving people, including Quakers.”

A Quaker by faith, Thomas is a founding member of Louisville Friends Meeting. He believes “all persons have inherent worth, independent of their gender, race, age, nationality, religion, and sexual orientation.” His opposition to sexism, racism, religious intolerance, warfare, and the death penalty led him to marches against the Vietnam War, civil rights marches alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more recently Iraq War protests. 60 years after his first financial gift to the ACLU-KY, Thomas is still a donor. He wants to, “support the civil liberties of all people-the extreme right, the extreme left, and those in the middle.”