Role in Civil Rights Movement
Graetz' first full-time job as pastor was to a black congregation, Trinity Lutheran Church in Montgomery. He began working there in 1955, the year of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. A personal friend of Rosa Parks, Graetz became secretary of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization founded to organize and support the boycott. Graetz' support of the movement included appearing at meetings led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
For his support of the boycott, Graetz and his family were ostracized by other whites and suffered several episodes of harassment, including tire slashings, arrest and bombings. Bombs were planted at his home on three occasions; the largest did not explode.
Graetz wrote A White Preacher's Memoir: The Montgomery Bus Boycott (Black Belt Press, September 1999. ISBN 1-57966-015-0) about his experiences. The book They Walked to Freedom 1955-1956: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Kenneth M. Hare (Sports Publishing LLC, 2005. ISBN 1-59670-010-6) contains a first-person account of his experiences as well as photographs of Graetz with Dr. King and others.
Read more about this topic: Robert Graetz
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