Benjamin Elijah Mays

Remembering Dr. Benjamin E. Mays' Legacy

&Ldquo;It started here in a log cabin and a cotton patch.  If it hadn't been for Benjamin Mays, there probably wouldn't have been a Martin Luther King.”  So said Ambassador Andrew Young as he spoke at the dedication of the Benjamin E. Mays Historical Preservation Site in Greenwood, South Carolina on April 26.  Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, who was born in 1894 to former slaves, was an adviser to Presidents, mentor of mentors like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., lauded preacher and scholar, advocate for social justice, and the president of Morehouse College from 1940 to 1967.  He was a remarkable man and role model for thousands of students who entered the doors of Morehouse, Spelman College, Atlanta University, Clark and Morris Brown Colleges, and the Interdenominational Theological Seminary, the schools that constituted the broader Atlanta University Center of Black higher education. Ramrod straight of posture, unwaveringly principled and caring, keenly intelligent and elegant in speech, Dr. Mays was one of the most important people to me during my college years at Spelman.  Throughout my life, he inspired me with a passion for excellence and service.  The Mays Historical Site, which includes a museum, a 19th century one-room Black schoolhouse, and the simple log cabin that was Dr. Mays’s birthplace and childhood home, is a long overdue recognition of him by his native state, South Carolina. One of Dr. Mays’s earliest childhood memories was of the armed White mob that came to his home during an 1898 riot and forced his father to bow before them at gunpoint.  Eight other Black citizens, including Dr. Mays’s cousin, were murdered. Dr. Mays understood early on that the way to escape the violence, discrimination, and poverty of his rural Southern community would be through education.  After graduating as valedictorian from the high school department of South Carolina State College at age 22, he went on to graduate with honors from Bates College in Maine.  He went on to Atlanta, where he pastored Shiloh Baptist Church and was recruited to serve as a math instructor and debate coach at Morehouse.  After returning to school to earn a Ph.D. in Religion from the University of Chicago, Dr. Mays was appointed dean of the School of Religion at Howard University in 1934, and served there until assuming the presidency of Morehouse. I first met Dr. Mays in 1953 when I was 13 years old and he came to stay at my house. Daddy had invited him to speak at our church, and because there were no hotels where Black visitors could stay in my Southern town, the pastor and parishioners always provided hospitality to strangers great and humble.  Later, I heard and saw Dr. Mays and his beautiful wife Sadie often at Spelman or on Morehouse’s campus. Students were regularly invited to their house, and I was one of eight very lucky Spelman students privileged to sing with eight Morehouse students at Morehouse's 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning chapel services in Sale Hall, where I heard Dr. Mays and other speakers from Morehouse and the outside world every week.  Students lovingly imitated Dr. Mays’s words and mannerisms and hungrily internalized his unerring belief that we were God's instruments for transforming the world. Of the six college presidents in the Atlanta University academic complex, Dr. Mays was the one who we looked up to most.  He inspired and taught us and stood by us when we challenged Atlanta’s racial discrimination.  Some of his teachings I wrote in my college diary.  Others I internalized and, like many others who heard him frequently, I shared his words with others.

Capital Outlook » Child Watch: Remembering Dr. Benjamin E. Mays ...

“It started here in a log cabin and a cotton patch.  If it hadn’t been for Benjamin Mays, there probably wouldn’t have been a Martin Luther King.”  So said Ambassador Andrew Young as he spoke at the dedication of the Benjamin E. Mays Historical Preservation Site in Greenwood, South Carolina on April 26.  Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, who was born in 1894 to former slaves, was an adviser to presidents, mentor of mentors like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., lauded preacher and scholar, advocate for social justice, and the president of Morehouse College from 1940 to 1967.  He was a remarkable man and role model for thousands of students who entered the doors of Morehouse, Spelman College, Atlanta University, Clark and Morris Brown Colleges, and the Interdenominational Theological Seminary, the schools that constituted the broader Atlanta University Center of black higher education.

Ramrod straight of posture, unwaveringly principled and caring, keenly intelligent and elegant in speech, Dr. Mays was one of the most important people to me during my college years at Spelman.  Throughout my life, he inspired me with a passion for excellence and service.  The Mays Historical Site, which includes a museum, a 19th century one-room black schoolhouse, and the simple log cabin that was Dr. Mays’s birthplace and childhood home, is a long overdue recognition of him by his native state, South Carolina.

One of Dr. Mays’s earliest childhood memories was of the armed white mob that came to his home during an 1898 riot and forced his father to bow before them at gunpoint.  Eight other black citizens, including Dr. Mays’s cousin, were murdered. Dr. Mays understood early on that the way to escape the violence, discrimination and poverty of his rural Southern community would be through education.  After graduating as valedictorian from the high school department of South Carolina State College at age 22, he went on to graduate with honors from Bates College in Maine.  He went on to Atlanta, where he pastored Shiloh Baptist Church and was recruited to serve as a math instructor and debate coach at Morehouse.  After returning to school to earn a Ph.D. in Religion from the University of Chicago, Dr. Mays was appointed dean of the School of Religion at Howard University in 1934, and served there until assuming the presidency of Morehouse.

I first met Dr. Mays in 1953 when I was 13 years old and he came to stay at my house. Daddy had invited him to speak at our church, and because there were no hotels where black visitors could stay in my Southern town, the pastor and parishioners always provided hospitality to strangers great and humble.  Later, I heard and saw Dr. Mays and his beautiful wife Sadie often at Spelman or on Morehouse’s campus. Students were regularly invited to their house, and I was one of eight very lucky Spelman students privileged to sing with eight Morehouse students at Morehouse’s 9 a.m. Sunday morning chapel services in Sale Hall, where I heard Dr. Mays and other speakers from Morehouse and the outside world every week.  Students lovingly imitated Dr. Mays’s words and mannerisms and hungrily internalized his unerring belief that we were God’s instruments for transforming the world.

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