Dr. Benjamin Mays
Dr. Benjamin Mays
Benjamin Elijah Mays was born in 1895 in Ninety-Six, a small town in South Carolina, to parents who had been born in slavery and freed at the end of the Civil War. Mays excelled as a student from an early age, and was driven throughout his youth by what he termed "an insatiable desire to get an education." In this he was in conflict with his father, who felt Mays' time would be better spent in working on the family's farm, but was steadily supported by his mother, who could not read or write. Beginning in a one - room rural schoolhouse, he absorbed all he could from a succession of local schools, graduating from the high school at Orangeburg's State College and entering college at Virginia Union in Richmond, Virginia. Determined to continue his university education outside the segregated South, Mays entered Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 1917. Despite being one of a very few black students at Bates, Mays encountered little racial prejudice there and felt that his teachers and peers treated him as an equal. He wrote of his years at Bates, "For the first time...I felt at home in the universe."
Influenced by one of his high school teachers, Mays had set his sights on the University of Chicago for graduate study, and entered the Divinity School there in 1921. He interrupted his graduate studies multiple times to accept teaching jobs, including one at Morehouse College, and positions with the National Urban League and the YMCA, but he always returned to his chosen course, earning his master's degree in 1925 and his doctorate in 1935. During these years, he was also ordained into the Baptist ministry. In 1936, he traveled to India and met with Mahatma Gandhi where they discussed many of the passive resistance strategies that Gandhi was using against the British. From 1934 to 1940, Mays served as dean of the Howard University School of Religion and then moved on to the presidency of Morehouse College, a position he held with distinction for the next quarter of a century. Mays spoke early and often against segregation and for education. He was a model for one of his Morehouse students, Martin Luther King, Jr., and he served the young minister as an unofficial senior advisor. The two formed a mentor/mentee relationship that would last until Kings murder in 1968. Mays gave the benediction at the close of the program at the 1963 March on Washington, as well as the eulogy at King's funeral. Mays received nearly thirty honorary doctorates and other honors and awards, including election to the Schomburg Honor Roll of Race Relations (one of only a dozen major leaders to be so honored). Mayes continued to be involved with organizations such as the NAACP and YMCA. He was an active writer and speak until his death in 198. He is buried on the grounds of the Morehouse campus.
Benjamin Elijah Mays was born in 1895 in Ninety-Six, a small town in South Carolina, to parents who had been born in slavery and freed at the end of the Civil War. Mays excelled as a student from an early age, and was driven throughout his youth by what he termed "an insatiable desire to get an education." In this he was in conflict with his father, who felt Mays' time would be better spent in working on the family's farm, but was steadily supported by his mother, who could not read or write. Beginning in a one - room rural schoolhouse, he absorbed all he could from a succession of local schools, graduating from the high school at Orangeburg's State College and entering college at Virginia Union in Richmond, Virginia. Determined to continue his university education outside the segregated South, Mays entered Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 1917. Despite being one of a very few black students at Bates, Mays encountered little racial prejudice there and felt that his teachers and peers treated him as an equal. He wrote of his years at Bates, "For the first time...I felt at home in the universe."
Influenced by one of his high school teachers, Mays had set his sights on the University of Chicago for graduate study, and entered the Divinity School there in 1921. He interrupted his graduate studies multiple times to accept teaching jobs, including one at Morehouse College, and positions with the National Urban League and the YMCA, but he always returned to his chosen course, earning his master's degree in 1925 and his doctorate in 1935. During these years, he was also ordained into the Baptist ministry. In 1936, he traveled to India and met with Mahatma Gandhi where they discussed many of the passive resistance strategies that Gandhi was using against the British. From 1934 to 1940, Mays served as dean of the Howard University School of Religion and then moved on to the presidency of Morehouse College, a position he held with distinction for the next quarter of a century. Mays spoke early and often against segregation and for education. He was a model for one of his Morehouse students, Martin Luther King, Jr., and he served the young minister as an unofficial senior advisor. The two formed a mentor/mentee relationship that would last until Kings murder in 1968. Mays gave the benediction at the close of the program at the 1963 March on Washington, as well as the eulogy at King's funeral. Mays received nearly thirty honorary doctorates and other honors and awards, including election to the Schomburg Honor Roll of Race Relations (one of only a dozen major leaders to be so honored). Mayes continued to be involved with organizations such as the NAACP and YMCA. He was an active writer and speak until his death in 198. He is buried on the grounds of the Morehouse campus.
Thoughts to Ponder
In your opinion, what was Benjamin May’s greatest contribution to the Civil Rights Movement?
What attributes did Dr. Benjamin May possess that influenced Martin Luther King Jr.?
In your opinion, what was Benjamin May’s greatest contribution to the Civil Rights Movement?
What attributes did Dr. Benjamin May possess that influenced Martin Luther King Jr.?
Dr. Benjamin E. Mays | MMUF. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://www.mmuf.org/about/dr-benjamin-e-mays