- Oct 17, 2011
- 32,794
- 36,089
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Atheist
- Marital Status
- Legal Union (Other)
Robert Graetz, a White minister famously known for his support of the Montgomery bus boycott died on Sunday, according to a Facebook post from the Southeastern Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Graetz served as a pastor to the majority-Black Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church in Montgomery, Alabama. During the bus boycotts, he also helped organize carpools to drive his Black neighbors to work or shopping -- a move that wasn't well received by his white neighbors.
Graetz was the only White board member of the Montgomery Improvement Association, a group that formed in the days following Parks' arrests, to oversee the boycott, according to the Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University.
As a result of his involvement in the boycott, Graetz's home was bombed several times and he was harassed by White residents, according to The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. After Graetz's home was bombed a second time in 1957, he left Alabama to become pastor of St. Philip Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio where he continued to fight for civil rights issues and advocated in support of gay rights.
Graetz served as a pastor to the majority-Black Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church in Montgomery, Alabama. During the bus boycotts, he also helped organize carpools to drive his Black neighbors to work or shopping -- a move that wasn't well received by his white neighbors.
Graetz was the only White board member of the Montgomery Improvement Association, a group that formed in the days following Parks' arrests, to oversee the boycott, according to the Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University.
As a result of his involvement in the boycott, Graetz's home was bombed several times and he was harassed by White residents, according to The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. After Graetz's home was bombed a second time in 1957, he left Alabama to become pastor of St. Philip Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio where he continued to fight for civil rights issues and advocated in support of gay rights.