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Rev. Robert Graetz is a Lutheran minister who came to Montgomery, Alabama, along with his wife Jeanie and their children in 1955 as a white minister to an all-black congregation. He could not have known what he was walking into. During his stay in Montgomery, Graetz was the only white minister to openly support the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Graetzís home, the parsonage behind their church, was bombed three times, once with the family at home. (Once, the bomb did not detonate.) After literally risking his life to do what he still today sees as Godís work, the Graetz moved on in 1958 when the Lutheran church reassigned Reverend Graetz.

On March 7, 2005 ń the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the day the Selma-to-Montgomery March was beaten back ń Rev. Graetz, Mrs. Graetz, their son, and a bus load of students that they were conducting on an educational tour all came to BTWís campus, where they convened in the media center to discuss the Graetzís life and their work.

This project made possible by grants from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Gannett Corporation, parent company of the Montgomery Advertiser.
©2005 TakingTheTime.org