An Interview with Margaret Micolichek

An Oral History Project Conducted by John Robert Lewis Fellow Ursa Beckford

Project Description

Margaret Micolichek, advocate for social change and restorative justice, grew up in a Catholic community in Green Bay, Wisconsin. During college, she retraced the Freedom Rides, learning from civil rights luminaries including Dorothy Cotton and the Rev. Bernard Lafeyette, Jr. Micolichek went on to focus on the criminal legal system, co-founding the Restorative Justice Project (RJP) in Belfast, Maine. Through a court diversion program, reentry services, and programs in schools, RJP has addressed harm by repairing relationships, rather than using incarceration and punishment. This oral history project explores Micolichek’s early influences, her work to expand restorative justice, and her reflections on organizing and social change.