Griffin continued to be an active participant in the civil rights movement throughout the 1950s and 1960s. She founded the Des Moines chapter of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) being selected as the first president. 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. 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. Even at the age of 75, she went to Nebraska and sat in the middle of the highway to stop nuclear warheads from being shipped into the Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base. Through the years, Griffin was a contributor to "The Bystander", a local African American owned and operated newspaper.