From Outsider to Icon
By Justin A. Levine, Communications Associate
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
In late August this year, New York lost a true champion of the people. Alice Paden Green, who founded and ran the Center for Law and Justice in Albany for decades, left an indelible mark with her advocacy for civil rights and criminal justice reform.
Sadly, as happens so often, I didn’t dive into her background until she passed. I knew her work and that she was connected to the Adirondacks, but until I read her memoir, Outsider, I didn’t know how much of her life was shaped by her childhood in Minerva.
I dove into Outsider - what an emotional ride the story is. Green’s telling of her childhood as one of the only Black families in a small town was, at times touching, horrifying, joyful, and blunt.
Green’s father moved to Minvera as part of the Great Migration and was soon followed by her mother and five siblings, all traveling from South Carolina to Essex County. Green recounts the difficult childhood of poverty, tragedy, and discrimination with an openness that makes it impossible not to feel empathy for her, an innocent little girl, and her siblings.
Intertwined with the bad, though, is the good. The white sisters who lived next door and became life-long friends, the brother who became a basketball star, and maybe most importantly, the lessons that lead to a life of dedicated righteousness.
Mrs. Green will be sorely missed, not only for her work, but also for her steadfast beliefs in justice and fairness. We’re fortunate that she wrote Outsider, so that we can understand the humble beginnings of her great and powerful life.
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