Marie M. Runyon Collection

Marie Runyon (born Marie Morgan) was born on March 20, 1915, in Brevard, North Carolina. Following her older sister Louise, Marie attended Berea College where she studied Psychology, served as class vice-president, played basketball, and sang in the choir. After graduating in 1937, Runyon worked in Kentucky, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Michigan before moving to New York City in 1947 where she would become a copy reader for the New York Post. In 1947, she married her boss, Dick Runyon. Together they had one daughter, Louise. Divorcing three years later, Runyon and her daughter lived with various friends and family members until landing both a job at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as a membership recruiter and an apartment at 130 Morningside Drive in West Harlem. It is at her Morningside apartment where her political activism and community organizing was launched.

In addition to her political organizing and activist work in tenants’ rights as part of the "The Morningside Six," Runyon ran for, and won, a seat in the New York State Assembly (Member of the New York State Assembly from the 70th district, 1968–1972). During her time in office she served on housing, social services, labor, and cities committees. Afterward Runyon remained active in tenants' affairs and became Executive Director of the Harlem Restoration Project Inc. Later in life Runyon remained politically active as a member of the Granny Peace Brigade. In 2001, the F.B.I. had a 671-page file on Runyon. Runyon received the Berea College Service Award in 2014. She died on October 7, 2018, at the age of 103 at her Manhattan apartment.