Antoine Graves (1862–1941) was a prominent Atlanta realtor, first principal of Gate City Colored Public School (1884–1886), and principal at the Storrs School, the first school in Atlanta for blacks. He had his real estate offices in the Kimball Building on Wall Street, a street otherwise totally occupied by whites. He brokered the deal for the sale of the land where the

Georgia State Capitol The Georgia State Capitol is an architecturally and historically significant building in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building has been named a National Historic Landmark which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As t ...

now stands. His is the only mausoleum in the black section of Oakland Cemetery.Tevi Taliaferro, ''Historic Oakland Cemetery'', p.67
/ref> Cathy Kaemmerlen, ''The historic Oakland Cemetery of Atlanta: speaking stones'', p.36
/ref> When principal of Gate City Colored Public School,

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

's body passed in front of the school on the way to

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

for burial. Schools were ordered to close that day so everyone could attend the memorial parade, but Graves refused to honor a man who fought for slavery. Graves was fired as a result of this refusal. His wife Catherine Webb was the daughter of Sinai Calhoun Webb, born a slave in 1830 and the biracial daughter of prominent Southern politician and mayor of Atlanta Judge

William Ezzard William E. Ezzard (June 12, 1799March 24, 1887) was a Southern United States politician who served as the 11th, 13th and 19th Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, in the 19th century. Ezzard was born in Abbeville, South Carolina. He moved to Georgia and l ...

. The

Atlanta Housing Authority The Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) is an agency that provides affordable housing for low-income families in Atlanta. Today, the AHA is the largest housing agency in Georgia and one of the largest in the United States, serving approximately 50,000 ...

's Antoine Graves senior citizen highrise (built 1965, demolished 2009) was named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Antoine 1862 births 1941 deaths American real estate brokers Schoolteachers from Georgia (U.S. state) 19th-century African-American educators 19th-century American educators Burials at Oakland Cemetery (Atlanta) 20th-century African-American people