Alice Green facts for kids

Alice Green (c. 1940 – August 20, 2024) was an American activist and prison reform advocate, living in Albany, New York, who was the Green Party candidate for lieutenant governor in 1998, and its Albany mayoral candidate in 2005. Green founded the Center for Law and Justice in 1985, and was its executive director. She died in August 2024.

Early life, education, and early career

Green was born in a small town in the Adirondacks area of Upstate New York in the early 1940s, and raised in “the Champlain Valley hamlet of Witherbee.”

Green earned several degrees from SUNY Albany (now U. at Albany). These include a bachelor's in African-American studies, master's degrees in education, social welfare and criminal justice, and a doctorate in criminal justice.

She worked as a secondary school teacher, a social worker, and as the Executive Director of the Trinity Institution (as of March 2009, the Trinity Alliance for the Capital Region). Starting in the 1960s, Green's activism gained much local publicity, especially in her role as chair of the NAACP Legal Redress Committee.

She was legislative director for the New York Civil Liberties Union in the 1980s. In 1984, Green founded the Center For Law and Justice, Inc.

In 1985, Governor Mario Cuomo appointed Green as a member of the Citizens Policy and Complaint Review Council of New York State Commission on Corrections. In 1986, Cuomo also appointed her as Deputy Commissioner for New York State Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives.

Green organized "much-publicized protests at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events hosted by Governor Pataki from 1995 through 1999."

She briefly attended Albany Law School, in 1990, but did not complete a law degree.

Political campaigns

In 1998, Green ran for lieutenant governor on the Green Party of New York State ticket with Al "Grandpa" Lewis, and gained over 52,000 votes.

In 2005, Green was a candidate for mayor of Albany, which garnered significant local publicity. She lost the race against incumbent Mayor Jerry Jennings, but garnered about 25% of the vote in November.

In 2008, Green served as a member of the committee to fill vacancies for Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, but was later a contributor to Democrat Barack Obama.

Activism work

Green was the executive director of the Center for Law and Justice, a not-for-profit community organization, for many years. That group is part of the "Community Empowerment Center." As part of her work, she was an EEO compliance officer.

She was an adjunct professor at the University at Albany, and wrote and lectured frequently on racism and criminal justice issues.

She was the co-author, with Frankie Y. Bailey, of Law Never Here: A Social History of African American Responses to Issues of Crime and Justice (1999), and also wrote "Wicked Albany: Lawlessness & Liquor in the Prohibition Era."

Legacy and personal life

Green won numerous awards for her activism in the Capital District, including from the New York State Bar Association, NAACP, and Rockefeller College.

She gained considerable notoriety over the years from her political stances.

Her papers have been collected for the library at the University of Albany.

She was married to Charles L. Touhey, president of Touhey Associates, who also serves on the board of the Center For Law and Justice, Inc. Green died on August 20, 2024.

Electoral history