Morehouse College: formative years
Explore the pivotal period of Martin Luther King Jr.'s education at Morehouse College, from 1944 to 1948, a period that laid the foundation for the rest of his life.
The shaping of a leader
Martin Luther King Jr.'s enrolled at Morehouse College at just 15 years old. His time at Morehouse was extremely crucial as it laid the foundations for his intellectual development for the next decade. His time was heavily influenced by President Benjamin Mays, whose socially engaged beliefs in Christianity became a blueprint for King's own activism.
Benjamin Mays: spiritual mentor
Benjamin Mays stands as the key figure during King's Morehouse years. Mays modelled a fearless, intellectually serious faith that made social justice inseparable from religion, a philosophy King absorbed completely. What Mays provided was the intellectual framework to build upon King's character, beginning his transformation into a theologian and philosopher in pursuit of social change. Their relationship extended well beyond King's graduation, with Mays delivering the eulogy at King's funeral in 1968, underlining the depth of their bond.
"The School Master of the Civil Rights Movement"
-Lerone Bennett Jr. and Dr Randal Jelks [1]
Purpose at Morehouse
Crucially, Morehouse's environment of Black excellence and intellectual confidence provided King with an invaluable sense of dignity and purpose. In a world designed to diminish Black men through segregation, the college taught King that he was worthy of human rights, and that he should fight for said rights. This belief powered every piece of activism, march and, speech that followed. Morehouse laid the foundation for King's life, putting him on the path as a civil rights activist
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