Willis M. Graves: The Color of Courage Biography-1
Willis Graves: Detroit Civil Rights Leader & His Gruen Presentation Watch
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Willis M. Graves Jr. (1890-1966) led the legal fight against segregation in Detroit - as both an attorney and community leader - for over forty years. As Chairman of the Detroit NAACP Legal Redress Committee, he challenged Detroit's Jim Crow laws and housing discrimination through the 1960s.
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In 1946, Willis was the lead NAACP attorney before the Michigan Supreme Court in Sipes vs. McGhee. (The McGhees were a Black couple who moved into a white Detroit neighborhood, and were ordered to sell their house based on a restrictive residential covenant). Michigan regrettably upheld Detroit’s Jim Crow law, but in 1947, Willis joined future Supreme Court judge Thurgood Marshall to appeal that decision in Shelley vs. Kraemer. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Michigan's decision, ruling that "Whites-only" restrictive residential covenants were unconstitutional. In 1999, Kathleen McGhee-Anderson -- the McGhee's granddaughter -- wrote and produced a film "The Color of Courage" about her grandparent's fight for justice.​​
In November 1950, the Detroit Chapter of the Howard University Alumni Association honored Willis for over 20 years of dedicated pro bono Detroit civil rights leadership, including his role in overturning national residential housing segregation.
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They presented him with a 10k gold Gruen Veri-Thin wristwatch, engraved “Presented to ~ Att. W. M. Graves ~ For Work Well Done ~ By ~ Detroit Chpt. Howard Alum. Assn ~ 11-16-50”.
In February 2025, Willis was honored with a new marker on the North Carolina Civil Rights Trail, placed outside his childhood Oberlin, NC community home. “This marker serves as a tribute to a man whose legal battles reshaped American history,” said Benjamin Briggs, President and CEO of Preservation North Carolina. “His work continues to inspire us today.”
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Willis’ Gruen presentation watch was returned to his great-niece Susan L. Mask in August 2025.