Billy Graham's statue in Washington D.C. will be unveiled on May 16, 2024, filling a space left by the removal of a white supremacist figure. However, this change prompts a deeper reflection on Graham, the renowned evangelist who passed away in 2018.

The narrative surrounding Graham is more complex than it might first appear.

Born in 1918 in North Carolina, Graham grew up in a racially segregated society, which he accepted without question. In a 1960 interview, he noted:

“Segregation was taken for granted. If there were Negroes who chafed in their status as second-class citizens, I was not aware of them.”

He viewed Black individuals in a “patronizing and paternalistic way,” a perspective that biographer Grant Wacker indicates Graham never shed.

In 1936, Graham briefly attended Bob Jones College before moving to the Florida Bible Institute, both of which were exclusively for white students.