Remembering Rev. Graves
by Gregory P. Kelly

The Mt. Zion minister led the fight to name a major Lansing street
in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The late Rev. Joseph Graves, Sr. was respected for his tenacity, renown for his commitment and loved for his caring. However, today the late long serving head of the pastor's conference is best remembered as a civil rights champion, who was the force behind the movement that led to the naming of a Lansing street honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

According to Rev. Graves son, Joseph Graves, Jr. to his father the thought of Lansing honoring Dr. King was a natural and right thing to do.

"My dad's involvement went back to the days when he marched and worked with Dr. King. Later when he traveled across the country, he noticed that other cities had streets named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He thought that Lansing, being the capital city, should honor Dr. King," explained Joseph, Jr.

However, the effort to get city council to do the right thing and agree upon a fitting tribute for Dr.King was a long, arduous struggle, fraught with delays and setbacks.

In the mid 1980's when Rev. Graves presented the idea of a memorial honoring Dr. King in Lansing it fell upon deaf ears at city hall.

"He was surprise by the resistance from the city council ", Joseph Jr. said.

At first he just wanted a significant memorial of some kind, but he soon found out that whatever was proposed, opposition would spring up. Undaunted, Rev Graves decided that a city street would be a proper memorial. But once again no matter what street was proposed a fire storm of opposition would blow up. The long serving Pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist church dug in his heels and decided that Logan street would make a good memorial because it was a major city thoroughfare.

Logan street was named after a union civil war general. According to Rev Michael Murphy, pastor of St. Stephen's community church, Rev. Graves turned up the pressure on the city council by garnering support for the Dr. King Street designation by building a broad interracial coalition of churches, organizations and individual supporters.

Rev. Graves knew how to bring people together and keep them together Rev. Murphy said. Finally, in 1987, a critical mass of city council members were willing to support a dual designation of Logan Street and Martin Luther King Blvd., but not for a single street named Dr. King . After much discussion with members of the Pastor's Conference an agreement was struck to accept the dual name posting with an understanding that after a period of time the Logan Street signs would be taken down.

However, the transition to the single posting of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. took another five years. In March of 1994 the Logan Street signs finally came down and one month later Rev Graves died. To many, the eventual designation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. was the crown jewel of a life dedicated to human rights and deeply felt community involvement.

But to son, Joseph, Jr., it was only part of a life of dedication and deeply felt community involvement.

"His commitment was very broad," declared Joseph, Jr. "My dad was involved with issues concerning the police, employment, literacy and justice. He was active on the city, county and state levels trying to insure that the Black community was represented and was getting its fair share."

Joseph, Jr. said that his father worked around the clock, exerting a tireless effort that sometimes overran 'dad' time.

"The family felt that our dad was the father of the city instead of our dad. We felt like we had to share him with the whole city," said Joseph, Jr.

"I remember that many times he would get a call late at night and get up out of his bed to deal with local police agencies, a couple having problems or a parent worried about their child."

Joseph, Jr. says that when he grew older he gained a greater appreciation for his father's unyielding commitment to civil rights and just how proud his dad was of the designation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

Rev. Murphy said, "Reverend Graves was truly a giant in this community. He was a primary mover."