U.S. Army Major General Peter Gravett tells the story of protesting for civil rights with longtime San Pedro community leader, the late Dave Arian. Gravett and Arian protested a new housing development in Torrance for refusing to sell homes to African Americans and Mexican Americans. Gravett, a former president of the local NAACP chapter also joined in peaceful protests of a San Pedro supermarket that refused to hire black people.
June 4, 2020
Stories of L.A. Harbor Area: For Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (SOLAHA)
Vol. II, No. 11 Major General Peter Gravett remembers civil rights peaceful protesting
As director/co-producer Jack Baric comments: “ In this time of civil unrest, it is crucial to understand how important it is for us to have rights to peacefully protest. Nobody in our local community might understand that better than Major General Peter Gravett.
In his lifetime he has been a civil rights protestor, LAPD officer, NAACP chapter president, and U.S.A. Army General. In this week’s “Stories of Los Angeles Harbor Area: For Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” Major General Gravett recalls participating in two civil rights protests during the 1960s, one in nearby Torrance and the other at a supermarket in San Pedro. He was joined in those protest by longtime San Pedro community leader and former ILWU president, the late Dave Arian.” (See and hear Dave Arian’s stories in SOLAHA Vol. I at this website link .
Peter Gravett a son of one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the legendary African-American aviators who served in World War II. Gravett was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and moved to San Pedro in his early youth and matriculated in local schools.
In 2019 he published his impressive and heartfelt biography From East Garrison To The Ranch House that includes many memories of growing up in the harbor area.
You can find the book at many outlets including this link:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/from-east-garrison-to-the-ranch-house-mg-peter-james-gravett/1129127561