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Steve Graves was born (1929) and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He travelled extensively during these years, visiting places such as New England, California, and Alaska. He later attended Antioch University earning a degree in Sociology. In 1952 he joined the Air Force, where he served, among other things, as a chaplain's assistant until 1958. The bulk of his time in the military was spent in Texas and Germany. After his return to civilian life in 1958, Graves attended Harvard’s divinity school for one year and then moved to New York City until 1963. During his time in New York he dated an African-American woman and his experience sparked his interest in the civil rights movement of that era.

In 1963 he enrolled in Meadville Lombard Theological School and became involved with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Before moving to Chicago for theological training he went first to Plaquemine, Louisiana and spent the summer of 1963 helping with CORE’s voter registration efforts in the Deep South. That fall he began his theological studies at Meadville Lombard and remained there until 1965. In March of that year he felt compelled to join the civil rights activists rallying in Selma, Alabama, and became one of the 300 people who marched from Selma to Montgomery. After returning to Illinois he directed his commitment to human rights and public service by working first for the Illinois Department of Mental Health and then the Evanston Human Relations Commission.

In 1969 the Graves family again relocated, this time to Seattle. After arriving in Seattle he worked as a security guard at the Space Needle and drove a taxi before going to work for the for the Seattle Human Rights Commission. He later worked for the Washington Human Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, retiring in the 1990s.