Anna Kraus

It was nearing the end of our spring seminar when the final part of my fellowship fell into place. Artist and activist Autumn Brown had been a longtime hero of mine, and I had reached out to her on a far-fetched hope that she might be able to come speak for our cohort. She was of course out of our budget, but a few days later, I was surprised to see an email asking if I wanted to call and talk about my fellowship. At that point, I had already decided to work with the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee to support their campaign to end prison slavery in Minnesota. Speaking with Autumn about the political praxis that she was developing felt like fate. What were the odds that she was writing about freedom? After that call, I decided to split my fellowship time between IWOC and Autumn, and she took me on as her research assistant. They complimented each other well– as my work with End Slavery MN provoked new insights in my research, so my research informed my approach to prison justice work. It was the missing piece I didn’t know I needed!