Howard Thurman House

Howard Thurman was an author, minister, academic, and civil rights advocate. Thurman was a Baptist minister, Morehouse College valedictorian, and the first Black dean of Boston University. Thurman was an inspiration for Martin Luther King Jr., as one of the first advocates for non-violence in the modern civil rights movement. Thurman was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, whom he met during his life. Thurman's words and thoughts, most of which he published in Jesus and the Disinherited, were remarkably influential in the fight for equal rights.

Howard Thurman was born in November of 1900 in Daytona, as the son of Saul Solomon, who worked on the railroad ways of Florida, and Alice Thurman. Daytona was a small vacation town, busy in during the winter months when wealthy white northerners came south to escape the cold. Because of the centrality of tourism, racial tension in Daytona was not as intense as in other Southern cities. Despite this, the city was strictly segregated, and African Americans there enjoyed far fewer opportunities than their white counterparts. 

The Daytona Board of Education provided no school for Black children above middle school age, only supporting primary education to the seventh grade while providing all grades for white children. Because of this, few Black residents had the opportunity to reach high school or attend college. Thurman demonstrated such academic potential that his elementary school principal volunteered to privately tutor him through the eighth grade. After the end of their teaching, the principal petitioned to allow Thurman to take the eighth-grade examination for admittance into high school. The superintendent agreed to let Thurman take the test only if he could personally proctor the exam. Thurman passed.  

However, the state of Florida only housed three Black public high schools, and none were close to Daytona and the Thurman family lacked the funds to send him to another city. Eventually, Thurman was able to enroll at a high school in Jacksonville by living with a cousin and doing chores in exchange for room and board. After the first year, his cousin could no longer support Thurman financially. Despite this and other obstacles, Thurman graduated in 1919 as the valedictorian. His achievements in high school garnered him a scholarship to Morehouse College of Atlanta.

Upon entering Morehouse College, Thurman thought he'd become a minister but ended up majoring in economics. He enjoyed studying religion and philosophy. As he continued into college he realized his disinterest in being a preacher, and after a summer at Columbia discover a singular love for philosophy. In his senior year he did decide to attend the seminary despite having no clear intention to become a pastor. 

Thurman graduated in 1923 and was admitted to Colgate-Rochester Theological Seminary in Rochester, New York. Thurman served as class president there though he was one of very few Black students. Upon graduating, he made his final decision to serve the church and was ordained in 1926.  He accepted a position as pastor of a Black Baptist church in Oberlin, Ohio. The same year, he married his first wife, Kate Kelly, a social worker. His soon-established reputation as a preacher spread rapidly. This perception drew both Blacks and whites from the area to the church. By the end of the year , Mount Zion Baptist Church had been integrated. A

In 1932, Thurman accepted a teaching position in the religion department of Howard University. The university housed the best Black scholars of the time, including Rankin Chapel, Thurman joined Ralph Bunche, Carter G. Woodson, and Benjamin Mays. Thurman taught James Farmer, who helped found the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). It was in Farmer's thesis paper that Thurman was introduced to the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi. Thurman grew to admire the man and his ideas, which were employed during the modern civil rights movement in the mid-20th century. Thurman admired Gandhi so much so that he and his family took a pilgrimage to India in 1835. 

During the next few years, Thurman wrote and spoke extensively about the battle for equal rights for African Americans and the importance of employing non-violent methods. He wrote at least 10 books and articles. Thurman died in April of 1981 in San Francisco, where he had been teaching. Many of the most well-known civil rights activists, most notably Martin Luther King Jr., looked to the words of Thurman for inspiration and insight on equality.

United States. National Park Service. "We Shall Overcome -- Howard Thurman House." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015. Connor, Tim. "Thurman, Howard 1900–1981." Contemporary Black Biography. 1993. Encyclopedia.com. 8 May. 2015 .