Edythe C. Harrison was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1934. She has lived in Norfolk, Virginia since 1957. A professional volunteer, Edythe founded and served on numerous committees and councils. She is a founding member of the Virginia Opera Association. She also served on Old Dominion University's President's Advisory Council, the Board of Directors of the Greater Norfolk Corporation, the Advisory Committee of the Day Care and Child Development Center of Tidewater, Inc., and National Board of Governors of the National Conference of Soviet Jewry. In 1980 she was a founding member of Virginians Organized For Informed Community Expression (V.O.I.C.E.), an organization established to counter vocal right-wing attacks on such issues as abortion and medical research on human reproduction and fertility. Additionally in 1983 she chaired the 2nd District chapter of the National Women's Political Caucus. Her awards and honors include Outstanding Professional Woman of the Tidewater, and the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Edythe C. Harrison was first elected to political office in 1979 when she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. The committees on which she served during her tenure in the House of Delegates, 1979- 1982, were Education, Labor and Commerce, Conservation and Natural Resources, and Chesapeake and its Tributaries. She also served as Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Subcommittee on Vocational-Technical and Career Education and represented Virginia at the National Conference of State Legislatures, Arts and the States Committee. President Jimmy Carter appointed Edythe Harrison to the Advisory Committee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1979. In 1982 political redistricting in Norfolk created single member districts. She opposed incumbent Thomas Moss in the Democratic primary and lost. In 1984 Edythe Harrison became the first woman from Virginia nominated to seek state-wide office. She challenged Republican incumbent Senator John Warner in the 1984 United States Senate Race and was defeated. In 1994 the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk was named for her after she raised $10 million to have the 50-year old civic auditorium completely remodeled and expanded.

Note written by Special Collections Staff