Howard Thurman
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Howard Washington Thurman (November 18, 1899 – April 10, 1981) was an American author, philosopher, theologian, Christian mystic, educator, and
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
leader. As a prominent religious figure, he played a leading role in many
social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...
movements and organizations of the twentieth century. Thurman's theology of radical nonviolence influenced and shaped a generation of civil rights activists, and he was a key mentor to leaders within the civil rights movement, including
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
Thurman served as dean of Rankin Chapel at
Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...
from 1932 to 1944 and as dean of
Marsh Chapel Marsh Chapel is a building on the campus of Boston University used as the official place of worship of the school. It was named for Daniel L. Marsh, a former president of BU and a Methodist minister. The building is Gothic in style. While Met ...
at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
from 1953 to 1965. In 1944, he co-founded, along with Alfred Fisk, the first major interracial, interdenominational church in the United States.


Early life and education

Howard Thurman was born in 1899 in
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
in
Daytona Beach Daytona Beach is a coastal resort city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. Located on the East Coast of the United States, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach metropo ...
. He spent most of his childhood in
Daytona, Florida Daytona Beach is a coastal resort city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. Located on the East Coast of the United States, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach metropo ...
, where his family lived in Waycross, one of Daytona's three all-black communities. He was profoundly influenced by his maternal grandmother, Nancy Ambrose, who had been enslaved on a plantation in
Madison County, Florida Madison County is a county located in the north central portion of the state of Florida, and borders the state of Georgia to the north. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,968. Its county seat is also called Madison. History Locate ...
. Nancy Ambrose and Thurman's mother, Alice, were members of Mount Bethel Baptist Church in Waycross and were women of deep Christian faith. Thurman's father, Saul Thurman, died of pneumonia when Howard Thurman was seven years old. After completing eighth grade, Thurman attended the Florida Baptist Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. One hundred miles from Daytona, it was one of only three high schools for African Americans in Florida at the time. In 1923, Thurman graduated from
Morehouse College Morehouse College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Men's colleges in the United States, men's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, ...
as
valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...
. In 1925, he was
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...
as a
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
minister at First Baptist Church of Roanoke, Virginia, while still a student at Rochester Theological Seminary (now
Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School is a Baptist seminary in Rochester, New York. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. History 1820s–1960: Early history Four Baptist institutions merged over the course of the 19th and ...
). He graduated from Rochester Theological Seminary in May 1926 as valedictorian. From June 1926 until the fall of 1928, Thurman served as pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in
Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin () is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. It is located about southwest of Cleveland within the Cleveland metropolitan area. The population was 8,555 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin ...
. In the fall of 1928, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he had a joint appointment to Morehouse College and
Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...
in philosophy and religion. During the spring semester of 1929, Thurman pursued further study as a special student at
Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...
with Rufus Jones, a noted
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
philosopher and mystic. He enjoyed praying and going to church which provided him part of his education.


Marriage and family

Thurman married Katie Kelley on June 11, 1926, less than a month after graduating from seminary. Katie was a 1918 graduate of the Teacher's Course at Spelman Seminary (renamed Spelman College in 1924). Their daughter Olive was born in October 1927. Katie died in December 1930 of tuberculosis, which she had probably contracted during her anti-tuberculosis work. On June 12, 1932, Thurman married Sue Bailey, whom he had met while at Morehouse, when Sue was a student at Spelman. Their daughter Anne was born in October 1933. Sue Bailey Thurman was an author, lecturer, historian, civil rights activist, and founder of the ''Aframerican Women's Journal''. She died in 1996.


Career

Thurman was selected as the first dean of Rankin Chapel at
Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...
in the
District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
in 1932. He served there from 1932 to 1944. He also served on the faculty of the Howard University School of Divinity. Thurman traveled broadly, heading Christian missions and meeting with world figures. In 1935-36 he led a six-month delegation of African-Americans invited to India for meetings. At
Bardoli Bardoli (Gujarati: બારડોલી; Hindi: बारडोली) is a town and a municipality in the Surat Metropolitan Region. Situated in Southern Gujarat on the banks of the Mindhola River in Western India, it is located approximate ...
they spoke with
Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
, who asked "persistent, pragmatic questions" about the Black American community and its struggles. Training for
satyagraha Satyāgraha (from ; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone who practises satyagraha is ...
was discussed, its difficulties in the extreme addressed. When Thurman asked Gandhi what message he should take back to the United States, Gandhi said he regretted not having made
nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
more visible as a practice worldwide and remarked "It may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world". In 1944, Thurman left his tenured position at Howard to help the
Fellowship of Reconciliation The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR or FOR) is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. They are linked by affiliation to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). ...
establish the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples also known as The Fellowship Church in San Francisco. He served as co-pastor with a white minister, Alfred Fisk. Many of their congregants were African Americans who had migrated to San Francisco from
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, and
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
for jobs in the defense industry. The church helped create a new community for many in San Francisco. Thurman was invited to
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
in 1953, where he became the dean of
Marsh Chapel Marsh Chapel is a building on the campus of Boston University used as the official place of worship of the school. It was named for Daniel L. Marsh, a former president of BU and a Methodist minister. The building is Gothic in style. While Met ...
(1953–1965). He was the first black dean of a chapel at a majority-white university or college in the United States. In addition, he served on the faculty of
Boston University School of Theology The Boston University School of Theology (STH) is the oldest theological seminary of American Methodism and the founding school of Boston University, the largest private research university in New England. It is one of thirteen theological sc ...
. Thurman was also active and well known in the Boston community, where he influenced many leaders. Thurman was the minister delivering the sermon at Marsh Chapel on Good Friday April 20, 1962; the famous Good Friday double-blind psychedelic experiment by
Walter Pahnke Walter Norman Pahnke (Jan 18, 1931 – July 10, 1971) was a minister, physician, and psychiatrist most famous for the "Good Friday Experiment", also referred to as the Marsh Chapel Experiment or the "Miracle of Marsh Chapel". Pahnke attended Harva ...
using psilocybin to assess whether a religious environment influenced a mystical experience. After leaving Boston University in 1965, Thurman continued his ministry as chairman of the board and director of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust in San Francisco. He reportedly received a Doctor of Divinity degree from BU in 1967. Thurman was a prolific author, writing twenty books on theology, religion, and philosophy. The most famous of his works, '' Jesus and the Disinherited'' (1949), deeply influenced
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
and other leaders, both black and white, of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Thurman had been a classmate and friend of King's father at Morehouse. King visited Thurman while he attended BU, and Thurman in turn mentored his former classmate's son and his friends. He served as spiritual advisor to King,
Sherwood Eddy George Sherwood Eddy (1871–1963) was an American Protestant missionary, administrator and educator. He authored numerous works and traveled extensively to promote dialogue and understanding between missionaries and local communities, particula ...
,
James Farmer James Leonard Farmer Jr. (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) was an American civil rights activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement "who pushed for nonviolent protest to dismantle segregation, and served alongside Martin Luther King Jr." ...
, A. J. Muste, and
Pauli Murray Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985) was an American civil rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest. Murray's work influenced the civil r ...
. At BU, Thurman also taught Reb
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Meshullam Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (August 28, 1924 – July 3, 2014), commonly called "Reb Zalman" (full Hebrew name: ), was an American Rabbi, writer, and activist, and one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement and an innovator in ecu ...
, who cited Thurman as among the teachers who first compelled him to explore mystical trends beyond
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
.


Death

Howard Thurman died due to a lingering illness on April 10, 1981, in
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. He was 81 years old.


Honors and legacy

In 1935, Thurman received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Morehouse. ''
Ebony Magazine ''Ebony'' is a monthly magazine that focuses on news, culture, and entertainment. Its target audience is the Black-American community, and its coverage includes the lifestyles and accomplishments of influential black people, fashion, beauty, and ...
'' at one point called Thurman one of the 50 most important figures in African-American history. In 1953, ''
Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' rated Thurman among the twelve most important religious leaders in the United States. Thurman was named honorary Canon of the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (sometimes referred to as St. John's and also nicknamed St. John the Unfinished) is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhoo ...
, New York City, in 1974. In 1986, Dean Emeritus George K. Makechnie founded the Howard Thurman Center at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
to preserve and share the legacy of Howard Thurman. In 2020, the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground moved to a larger space occupying two floors in the Peter Fuller Building at 808 Commonwealth Avenue. Th
Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center
at Boston University holds the Howard Thurman Papers and the Sue Bailey Thurman Papers, where they are catalogued and available to researchers. The Howard Thurman Papers Project was founded in 1992. The Project's mission is to preserve and promote Thurman's vast documentary record, which spans 63 years and consists of approximately 58,000 items of correspondence, sermons, unpublished writings, and speeches. The Howard Thurman Papers Project is located at
Boston University School of Theology The Boston University School of Theology (STH) is the oldest theological seminary of American Methodism and the founding school of Boston University, the largest private research university in New England. It is one of thirteen theological sc ...
. Howard University School of Divinity named their chapel the Thurman Chapel in memory of Howard Thurman. Howard Thurman's poem ' I Will Light Candles This Christmas' has been set to music by British composer and songwriter Adrian Payne, both as a song and as a choral (SATB) piece. The choral version was first performed by Epsom Choral Society in December 2007. An arrangement for school choirs, which can be performed in one or two parts with piano accompaniment, was first performed in December 2010.


Bibliography


Books

* ''The Greatest of These'' (1944) * ''Deep River: Reflections on the Religious Insight of Certain of the Negro Spirituals'' (1945) lso published as ''The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death'' (same year)* ''Meditation for Apostles of Sensitiveness'' (1948) * '' Jesus and the Disinherited'' (1949) * ''Deep is the Hunger: Meditations for Apostles of Sensitiveness'' (1951) * ''Christmas Is the Season of Affirmation'' (1951) * ''Meditations of the Heart'' (1953) * ''The Creative Encounter: An Interpretation of Religion and the Social Witness'' (1954) * ''The Growing Edge'' (1956) * ''Footprints of a Dream: The Story of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples'' (1959) * ''Mysticism and the Experience of Love'' (1961) * ''The Inward Journey: Meditations on the Spiritual Quest'' (1961) * ''Temptations of Jesus: Five Sermons Given By Dean Howard Thurman in Marsh Chapel, Boston University, 1962'' (1962) * ''Disciplines of the Spirit'' (1963) * ''The Luminous Darkness: A Personal Interpretation of the Anatomy of Segregation and the Ground of Hope'' (1965) * ''The Centering Moment'' (1969) * ''The Search for Common Ground'' (1971) * ''The Mood of Christmas'' (1973) * ''A Track to the Water's Edge: The Olive Schreiner Reader'' (1973) * ''The First Footprints'' (1975) * ''With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman'' (1979) * ''For the Inward Journey: The Writings of Howard Thurman'' (1984) (selected by Anne Spencer Thurman)


Edited collections

* Fluker, Walter Earl; et al., eds. ''The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, Vol. 1: My People Need Me, June 1918-March 1936.'' Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2009. * Fluker, Walter Earl; et al., eds. ''The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, Vol. 2: Christian, Who Calls Me Christian? April 1936-August 1943.'' Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2012. * Fluker, Walter Earl; Eisenstadt, Peter; and Glick, Silvia P., eds. ''The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, Vol. 3: The Bold Adventure, September 1943-May 1949.'' Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2015. * Fluker, Walter Earl; et al., eds. ''The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, Vol. 4: The Soundless Passion of a Single Mind, June 1949-December 1962.'' Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2017. * Fluker, Walter Earl; et al., eds. ''The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, Vol. 5: The Wider Ministry, January 1963–April 1981.'' Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2019. * Fluker, Walter Earl and Tumber, Catherine, eds. ''A Strange Freedom: The Best of Howard Thurman on Religious Experience and Public Life.'' Boston: Beacon Press, 1998. * Smith, Jr., Luther E. ''Howard Thurman: Essential Writings.'' Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2006.


References


Further reading

* Apel, William, "Mystic as Prophet: The Deep Freedom of Thomas Merton and Howard Thurman," in ''Merton Annual: Studies in Culture, Spirituality and Social Concerns'', Vol. 16 (2003), 172–187. * Dixie, Quinton and Eisenstadt, Peter. ''Visions of A Better World: Howard Thurman's Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence.'' Boston: Beacon Press, 2011. * Eisenstadt, Peter. ''Against the Hounds of Hell: A Life of Howard Thurman'' Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2021. * Fluker, Walter Earl. "Dangerous Memories and Redemptive Possibilities: Reflections on the Life and Work of Howard Thurman," in Preston King and Walter Earl Fluker, eds., ''Black Leaders and Ideologies in the South: Resistance and Nonviolence.'' New York: Routledge, 2005, 147–176. * Fluker, Walter Earl. "Leaders Who Have Shaped Religious Dialogue—Howard Thurman: Intercultural and Interreligious Leader," in Sharon Henderson Callahan, ed., ''Religious Leadership: A Reference Handbook'' (Vol. 2). Los Angeles: Sage, 2013, 571–578. * Giles, Mark S. "Howard Thurman: The Making of a Morehouse Man, 1919–1923," ''The Journal of Educational Foundations'' 20:1–2 (2006), 105–122. * Giles, Mark S. "Howard Thurman, Black Spirituality, and Critical Race Theory in Higher Education," ''Journal of Negro Education'' 79:3 (2010), 354–365. * Haldeman, W. Scott. "Building a Reconciling Community: The Legacy of Howard Thurman," ''Liturgy'' 29:3 (2014), 31–36. * Hardy III, Clarence E. "Imagine a World: Howard Thurman, Spiritual Perception, and American Calvinism," ''Journal of Religion'' 81:1 (2001), 78–97. * Harvey, Paul. ''Howard Thurman and the Disinherited: A Religious Biography.'' Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2020. * Jensen, Kipton.
Howard Thurman: Philosophy, Civil Rights, and the Search for Common Ground
" Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2019. * Kaplan, Edward K. "A Jewish Dialogue with Howard Thurman: Mysticism, Compassion, and Community," ''CrossCurrents'' 60(4) (2010), 515–525. * Neal, Anthony. ''Common Ground: A Comparison of the Ideas of Consciousness in the Writings of Howard Thurman and Huey Newton''. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 2015. * Neal, Anthony Sean. Howard Thurman’s Philosophical Mysticism: Love Against Fragmentation. New York: Lexington Press, 2019. * Smith, Jr., Luther E. ''Howard Thurman: The Mystic as Prophet.'' Richmond, Ind.: Friends United Press, 1991 (first published in 1981). * Walker, Corey D.B. "Love, Blackness, Imagination: Howard Thurman's Vision of ''Communitas''," ''South Atlantic Quarterly'' 112:4 (2013), 641–655. * Williams, Zachery. "Prophets of Black Progress: Benjamin E. Mays and Howard W. Thurman, Pioneering Black Religious Intellectuals," ''Journal of African American Men'' 5:4 (2001), 23–38.


External links


The Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections

The Howard Thurman Papers Project


''Chicken Bones: A Journal'', a 1953 essay by Jean Burden reprinted from ''The Atlantic Monthly''
''Howard Thurman''
the first feature-length film about Howard Thurman

* ''Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story''
Description
an
link
A documentary film by Martin Doblmeier. Broadcast on PBS 2/18/2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurman, Howard Activists for African-American civil rights Howard University faculty 1899 births 1981 deaths Morehouse College alumni People from Daytona Beach, Florida American Baptist theologians African-American history in San Francisco Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School alumni American nonviolence advocates Baptist philosophers Baptists from Florida Baptists from Virginia Baptists from Ohio Baptists from California 20th-century Baptists 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century Christian mystics