Richard Alton Graham (November 6, 1920 – September 24, 2007) was an American equal rights leader, one of the inaugural group of five members of the United States

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

(EEOC). He was the founding director of the

National Teachers Corps Teacher Corps, whose correct title was the National Teacher Corps, was a program established by the United States Congress in the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve elementary and secondary teaching in predominantly low-income areas. Individ ...

. He was also one of the founders of the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

(NOW), becoming one of its initial officers.Bernstein, Adam
"Richard Graham, Early EEOC, Teacher Corps Leader."
''Washington Post.'' September 29, 2007.

Early life

Graham was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

; but he was raised in

Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, southwest of Toledo, Ohio, T ...

and

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Forces in Iran.Fox, Margalit
"Richard Graham, Equal Rights Leader, Dies at 86."
''New York Times.'' October 8, 2007. After the war, he worked with his father developing a variable speed drive transmission for electric motors. Father and son ran a small manufacturing business in Minominnee, Minnesota, until the younger Graham embarked on a career of public service.Phillips, Cabell

''New York Times.'' May 11, 1965.

Educational background

Graham was awarded a bachelor's degree in engineering from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1942. He earned a master's degree in education from

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univ ...

in 1970; and he continued his studies, earning a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1972 from what was then the "Union Graduate School", now the Union Institute and University in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Public service

In 1961, Graham became the deputy of

Sargent Shriver Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. (November 9, 1915 – January 18, 2011) was an American diplomat, politician, and activist. As the husband of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he was part of the Kennedy family. Shriver was the driving force behind the creation ...

, the first director of the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

; and then he left Washington to serve as the Peace Corps country director in Tunisia (1963–1965). In 1965, President

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

named Graham as one of the first Commissioners of the

. He was readily confirmed by Congress. He was a registered Republican in 1965—he later changed party affiliation—and he was named to EEOC to add political balance. Among other activities, he was prominent in promoting the EEOC guidelines, including those prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender. He would later say he "learned on the job" to become a feminist; and soon became one of the more outspoken commissioners along with the only female member,

Aileen Hernandez Aileen Hernandez (born Clarke; May 23, 1926 – February 13, 2017) was an African-American union organizer, civil rights activist, and women's rights activist. She served as the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) between 1970 ...

, a future NOW founder and president. He was the founding vice president of the

when it was first organized in 1966. He was a male supporter of women's rights at a time when such public support was less common; and, according to the 2007 NOW President Kim Gandy, Graham's decision to become a leader of the organization in its infancy gave NOW a certain level of credibility. In 1966, he was sworn in as the first director of the

, with an underfunded initial budget of $7.5 million for 1,250 teachers in 125 schools. This meant that from the outset, Graham's top priority became lobbying Congress for additional appropriations to bridge the gap between the program's funding and its projected per capita costs of $8,100 per teacher. By 1968, the Teacher Corps had expanded into 200 schools; and the program had earned modest bi-partisan support. Graham continued to head the Teacher Corps in the early years of the

Nixon administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 37th president of the United States began with First inauguration of Richard Nixon, his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974 ...

until early 1971.Rosenthal, Jack
"Service Corps Struggle; A Press Release Constitutes Bold Salvo In Fight Over Proposed Agency's Role,"
''New York Times.'' January 29, 1971. In the mid-1970s, he became director of the Center for Moral Education at the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first Harvard school ...

. He served as President of

Goddard College Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and gra ...

Plainfield, Vermont Plainfield, a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States was incorporated in 1867. The population was 1,236 at the 2020 census. Plainfield is the location of Goddard College. Geography Plainfield is located at . According to the United ...

(1975–1976); and he helped found the Goddard-Cambridge Center for Social Change. From the mid-1980s until his death, Graham was an adviser to the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy in Washington, D.C. Dick Graham married Nancy Aring Graham on December 21, 1949 and enjoyed 57 years of marriage until his death in 2007. Together they raised five children: Peggy Sue (Busy), Charles Louis (Hoey), Richard (Dicker), Nan and John.

Notes

References

* Bernstein, Adam
"Richard Graham, Early EEOC, Teacher Corps Leader."
''Washington Post.'' September 29, 2007. * Fox, Margalit

''New York Times.'' October 8, 2007. * Woo, Elaine
"Richard Graham, founding officer of NOW; at 86,"
''Boston Globe.'' September 30, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Richard Alton 1920 births 2007 deaths American feminists American civil rights activists Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty Activists from Chicago Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Catholic University of America alumni Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission members United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II American expatriates in Iran National Organization for Women people 20th-century American academics