Benjamin Mays Research Paper
When people hear the words, “longtime president of morehouse college of Atlanta” or “Martin Luther King Jr’s mentor, people think, Benjamin Mays. Mays was a distinguished African American educator, scholar, and social activist. Also was a significant mentor to civil rights leader to Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr was his most famous student. Mays also filled leadership roles in several significant national and international organizations, among the National Association for the advancement of colored people (NAACP), the International Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), the World Council of Churches, the United Negro College Fund, the National Baptist Convention, the Urban League, the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, the Southern Conference Educational Fund, and the Peace Corps Advisory Committee. Benjamin Elijah Mays was born on August 1, 1894 or 1895 in a rural area outside Ninety-Six, South Carolina. He was the youngest of eight children born to Louvenia Carter and Hezekiah Mays, tenant farmers and former slaves. A consistent theme in Mays's boyhood and early adulthood was his quest for education against overwhelming odds. He refused to be
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limited by the widespread poverty and racism of his place of birth. After completing his B.A. there in 1920, Mays entered the University of Chicago as a graduate student, earning an M.A. in 1925 and a Ph.D. in the School of Religion in 1935.
Also, In 1933, with coauthor Joseph Nicholson, Mays published a groundbreaking study entitled The Negro's Church, which describes the unique origins and character of this central African American institution, offering a critique of some of its problematic clerical practices.
Mays's education at Chicago was interrupted several times, first by stints as a teacher at Morehouse and at South Carolina State College. During his tenure at the latter, he met his future wife, Sadie Gray. Less than a year before completing his dissertation at Chicago in the spring of 1935, Mays accepted a position as dean of the School of Religion at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Mays distinguished himself as an effective administrator, elevating the Howard program to legitimacy and distinction among schools of
religion.
Furthermore, After his retirement in 1967 from Morehouse, Mays remained active in several social and political organizations of prominence and was in demand as a speaker and lecturer. As the school board's first black chair, he oversaw the desegregation of the Atlanta public schools between 1970 and 1981. He also published two autobiographies in these years, Born to Rebel (1971) and Lord, the People Have Driven Me On (1981). He died in 1984. As an administrator at Morehouse, Mays expanded and streamlined the structure of the institution and enhanced its academic reputation. He was a highly successful fund-raiser, securing the needed financial support for Morehouse to pursue its educational goals.
In conclusion, There he rose to national prominence, enjoying great influence on key events in U.S. history. His most famous student at Morehouse was Martin Luther King Jr. During King's years as an undergraduate at Morehouse in the mid-1940s, the two developed a close relationship that continued until King's death in 1968. Mays's unwavering emphasis on two ideas in particular, the dignity of all human beings and the incompatibility of American democratic ideals with American social practices, that became viral strains in the language of King and the civil rights movement.
limited by the widespread poverty and racism of his place of birth. After completing his B.A. there in 1920, Mays entered the University of Chicago as a graduate student, earning an M.A. in 1925 and a Ph.D. in the School of Religion in 1935.
Also, In 1933, with coauthor Joseph Nicholson, Mays published a groundbreaking study entitled The Negro's Church, which describes the unique origins and character of this central African American institution, offering a critique of some of its problematic clerical practices.
Mays's education at Chicago was interrupted several times, first by stints as a teacher at Morehouse and at South Carolina State College. During his tenure at the latter, he met his future wife, Sadie Gray. Less than a year before completing his dissertation at Chicago in the spring of 1935, Mays accepted a position as dean of the School of Religion at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Mays distinguished himself as an effective administrator, elevating the Howard program to legitimacy and distinction among schools of
religion.
Furthermore, After his retirement in 1967 from Morehouse, Mays remained active in several social and political organizations of prominence and was in demand as a speaker and lecturer. As the school board's first black chair, he oversaw the desegregation of the Atlanta public schools between 1970 and 1981. He also published two autobiographies in these years, Born to Rebel (1971) and Lord, the People Have Driven Me On (1981). He died in 1984. As an administrator at Morehouse, Mays expanded and streamlined the structure of the institution and enhanced its academic reputation. He was a highly successful fund-raiser, securing the needed financial support for Morehouse to pursue its educational goals.
In conclusion, There he rose to national prominence, enjoying great influence on key events in U.S. history. His most famous student at Morehouse was Martin Luther King Jr. During King's years as an undergraduate at Morehouse in the mid-1940s, the two developed a close relationship that continued until King's death in 1968. Mays's unwavering emphasis on two ideas in particular, the dignity of all human beings and the incompatibility of American democratic ideals with American social practices, that became viral strains in the language of King and the civil rights movement.