Council to vote on street name honoring civil rights advocate

A section of Eastern Avenue is slated to be named in honor of Margaret D. Graves, the late advocate for civil rights and social causes in Joliet.

The Joliet City Council will vote Tuesday on a resolution to create the honorary street name “Margaret D. Graves Way” for Eastern between Fourth Avenue and Dennis Street.

“Margaret Graves was a civil rights pioneer,” her son, Tony Graves, said earlier this month when the Joliet City Council Land Use and Legislative Committee recommended approval of the street name.

Graves noted his mother’s efforts on behalf of African-American political candidates in Joliet.

A city staff memo on the resolution said that Graves "assisted several African-American candidates for local office and was part of the push for Joliet's first African-American councilman, Andrew Hinch."

Graves also helped sponsor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s visit to Joliet in 1965, when he spoke at Memorial Stadium, and she advocated for African-American history courses in local schools. Graves came to Joliet in 1958. She died in 2008.

Her home was located on the section of Eastern Avenue that would bear her name.