Author of “Outsider: Stories of Growing Up Black in the Adirondacks” leaves social justice legacy
By Steve Hughes, Times Union, and Adirondack Explorer
Adirondacker Alice Green, who hosted author retreats and writer workshops at her Adirondack Park residence for years, died on Tuesday at age 84 in Albany.
The founder of the Center for Law and Justice and a steadfast champion for civil rights in the Capital Region, she had just recently hosted an event at her Essex home on the topic of reparations for African Americans of the North Country.
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Charles Touhey, Green’s husband, said she went into cardiac arrest at St. Peter’s Hospital, close to her Albany residence, around 1 p.m.
They had gone to the emergency room early in the morning after Green experienced difficulty at home.
She had recovered from a bout of COVID-19 over the weekend that involved an earlier visit to the hospital just a few blocks from their Pine Hills home but had been released on Monday with no apparent problems.
Touhey said that doctors suspected underlying cardiac problems, and not COVID, had been the predicate cause.
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“I’m still just processing this,” Touhey said in a brief interview with the Times Union. He called his wife “my best friend for 52 years.”
Touhey had left the emergency room to retrieve his hearing aid from the house when his wife went into arrest. Her last words to him expressed comical relief that when she returned, she wouldn’t have to yell at him to be understood.
Speaking in a loud and distinct voice was something Alice Green was known for.
Green was also the author of several books. Her memoir “Outsider: Stories of Growing Up Black in the Adirondacks” was published last year. Green also wrote “We Who Believe in Freedom: Activism and the Struggle for Social Justice,” a book that tackled topics like police accountability, criminal justice and prison reform.
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Born in South Carolina and raised in the Adirondacks, she served as legislative director of the New York Civil Liberties Union in the early 1980s and was appointed in 1986 by Gov. Mario Cuomo as deputy commissioner of the state Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives.
In 1985, she founded the Albany-based Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit civil rights organization where she served as executive director for almost four decades.
From there, she fought battles advocating for civil rights at every level, including assisting the urban poor with legal issues and helping former prisoners re-integrate with their families and community.
An avid runner, she maintained a daily regimen that would find her jogging through her Pine Hills neighborhood in the early morning hours.
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At her author’s retreat near the west shore of Lake Champlain this year, she attracted several people to discuss African Americans in the Adirondacks for a project she was undertaking to make sure North Country voices were part of state reparations discussions.
Times Union photo
Sincere condolences for the loss of Dr. Alice Green to her husband Charles Touhey, fellow fighter for justice. Alice left a deep impression on everyone who heard her speak. Her memoir Outsider deserves to be on every Adirondack bookshelf.