[1] Edna Mae Williams was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1909 and raised in rural New Hampshire, later Massachusetts following her father's career as a dairy farm supervisor.
In 1933, Edna received a degree in English from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, preparing her for a career as a school teacher.
Edna and her husband moved to Des Moines, Iowa, on January 2, 1947, as Stanley was accepted as a student at Still College of Osteopathy and Surgery.
[3] When she arrived in Des Moines, Griffin got involved with the Iowa Progressive Party and supported Henry Wallace in the presidential race.
[6] Griffin launched a campaign to force Katz to serve African Americans by leading boycotts, sit-ins and pickets.
Through the organization, Griffin planned a march from Ames to Des Moines dedicated to the mourning of four Birmingham children killed by white supremacists in a church bombing.
[4] With the financial support of her husband, they organized 40 Iowans to attend the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom led by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963.