Activist Women's Voices: Oral History Project
Linking Communities and the University
  Marie Runyon has been called a "fighting lion" for the energy and ingenuity she has brought to political activism from the local to the national level. She has served as a New York State Assembly woman where she made the rights of prisoners her focus. In her work for the ACLU, with Dr. Benjamin Spock in SANE, and in other organizations, including her own company, Marie Runyon Associates, she has raised money and consciousness for civil rights, tenants' rights, and against war. Since 1977, she has been the Executive Director of the Harlem Restoration Project (HRP) which she founded, "To rebuild Harlem and supply jobs for ex-offenders." HRP has accomplished that mission through upgrading, renovating and managing residential buildings, providing housing and jobs for the Harlem community.