Thanks to former Times Union reporter Paul Grondahl for covering the unveiling of Dr. Alice P. Green’s portrait on May 22, 2025. Grondahl also wrote the brief AWTT biography of Green that accompanies her portrait. The following article includes exerpt’s from Grondahl’s report, which appeared in the Albany Times Union on May 28.

ALBANY — When Maine artist Robert Shetterly removed a cloth covering and revealed the portrait of the late civil rights activist Alice P. Green at an unveiling ceremony Thursday, soft murmurs of appreciation rippled through the onlookers.

“I love how he captured the softness in Alice, but also the strong presence in her eyes asking us what are we all going to do next to speak truth to power,” said Charles Touhey, who helped the artist unveil the portrait of his wife, who died suddenly on Aug. 20, 2024 at 84 after suffering cardiac arrest following a bout of COVID-19.

“I’m personally impressed with the quality of the likeness and the luminosity of the palette that allows her to glow,” said Kayla Carlsen, executive director of the Albany Institute of History & Art. “There’s a real softness to her smile, and the powerful quote works very well with the portrait.” . . .

More than 70 people — including family members, friends, fellow activists, current and former judges and politicians — filled the Alice Moore Black Arts and Cultural Center (named for Green’s grandmother) to view the portrait of Green and to reminisce about her half-century fighting for social justice and racial equality.

The center is a former Key Bank branch on the corner of Madison Avenue and South Pearl Street in the city’s South End, in a building owned by Touhey. It is a couple of blocks from the Center for Law and Justice, which Green founded in 1985 to advocate for prison reform and help formerly incarcerated individuals find jobs and housing, and reconnect with their families. . . .

When the Albany Institute of History & Art planned a show [of his portraits], Shetterly asked which person from Albany he should paint.

“Almost immediately, the answer came back: Alice,” he said. After reading her memoir, “We Who Believe in Freedom: Activism and the Struggle for Social Justice,” Shetterly was convinced she was the right choice. . . .

“When I think of the civil rights movement, I always think of Alice,” said Leon Van Dyke, 91, a founding member of The Brothers, a 1960s militant Black group that made Green an honorary member. The Brothers stood up for the oppressed and advocated for jobs, educational opportunity and better living conditions in the city’s underserved Black neighborhoods.

“Alice was a spiritual and soulful leader who always spoke out against injustice wherever she found it,” Van Dyke said.

“Sometimes I say I’m glad Alice didn’t see what’s happening right now because we are going through one of the lowest places in our history for Black people,” Touhey said. “None of this would have stopped her from continuing in the struggle for racial equality.” . . .

“It is always amazing to see how many lives Dr. Green touched across many generations and the action she called us to continue, right to the end,” said Mark Bobb-Semple, director of the Alice Moore Black Arts and Cultural Center.

“Tonight was about reminding people that the work of Dr. Green is alive and well and ongoing,” said Ta-Sean Murdock, executive director of the Center for Law and Justice. “She always reminded us to stay in the fight and keep pushing forward.”

Maine artist Robert Shetterly said the late Albany civil rights leader epitomized his two-decade portrait project, “Americans Who Tell the Truth”

See more photos and read the full story in the Times Union