An Evening with Earl Graves

Raised during the great depression Earl Graves was enculturated early on into economic hardship. He was born to two loving parents, both strong in their own respects in Brooklyn New York City. Earl Graves was taken under the wing of one of his uncles who mentored him and instilled in him a sense of upward oriented aspiration. He and his uncle bonded well because his uncle was the younger brother of his father, and the two in a sense were both raised by Earl’s father.

Early Graves would later enroll as Morgan State University where he studied economics. His father was against the move to Morgan and encouraged him to stay and work from home. Graduating from university at the time, employment options were limited for Black men. Mr. Graves was faced with the options of becoming a teacher, working for the government or join the military. Mr. Graves would join the army and when he returned from his time in service, he would go into real estate as a salesman.

Graves would later go into politics and be part of the racial shift with in society and government geared toward integration. Although rebuffed from joining the democratic party, Early Graves would engage in community organizing that would catch the attention of Bobby Kennedy, and would join his staff. From this position he would see how the other half lived, but it would be a short-lived adventure following the assassination of Kennedy.

Unemployed he would start a new venture in print, creating a magazine that would later become Black Enterprise Magazine. By the 70s there was an enormous surge of Black people within corporate America and Graves’ magazine would find many features and readers. He would build his empire on the rising Black upper middle class and the financial class. With his funds he would engage in a legacy of philanthropy.