Career
Born Carole Anderson on April 15, 1938 in Newark, New Jersey, she was the fifth of six children of Philip and Valeria Anderson. After graduating high school, she worked for the telephone company before attending college. She is a 1960 graduate of Newark State Teacher College.
She was a public school teacher, teaching special needs students.
Graves was defeated for re-election as President of the Newark Teachers Union in 1995 by Joseph Delegate Grosso by a vote of 1,809 to 1,015, after filing a lawsuit to block the state takeover of the Newark public school system. In 1981, Graves ran for the New Jersey General Assembly, challenging incumbents Willie B. Brown and Eugene Thompson in the Democratic primary.
She lost, trailing Thompson by 2,685 votes. Following the retirement of four-term incumbent Larrie West. Stalks in 1994, the Essex County Democratic Organization endorsed Graves as their candidate for Essex County Register of Deeds and Mortgages.
She was re-elected by wide margins against Angelo Risoli in 1999 and Miguel Sanabria in 2004.
In 2010, Graves became a candidate for the Newark City Council, running for one of four At-Large Council seats.
