Howard Thurman

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What is the measure of a man? Is the car he drives? The title he holds? The amount of money he has? The degrees he has achieved? The institutions those degrees came from? At the end of the day none these matter. The true measure of a man is the legacy he leaves, how efficiently he has used his short time on this earth, and the number of lives he has touched. By this measure Howard Thurman was a remarkable man. Born to mother who was a domestic worker, a father that worked on the railroad and raised primarily by his grandmother, a former slave, Thurman was not necessarily dealt the best of hands. At the time in segregated Daytona, Fl public school stopped at 7th grade. Understanding the importance of education Thurman was privately tutored in order to take the 8th grade examination and be allowed to high school. There were no black high schools in Daytona and only 3 in the entire state of Florida. Howard’s family scrounged together enough money to send him to high school in Jacksonville, Fl. where he graduated top of his class. Following high school Thurman received a scholarship to attend the illustrious Morehouse College. During his time at Morehouse Thurman was a classmate of and Friends with Martin Luther King Sr. Thurman graduated valedictorian of his 1923 Morehouse graduating class. After his time at Morehouse Thurman attended Colgate- Rochester Theological Seminary. While at Colgate- Rochester Thurman worked extensively with the YMCA and became the youth movement leader. He was also elected class president despite the fact his class was all white. In 1926 Thurman graduated the seminary and became ordained. It was at this time he became the pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Oberlin, Ohio. While in Oberlin he made a name for himself as an inspiring preacher but his pastorate there would be short lived. In 1929 Thurman chose to travel to Haverford, Pa. and study under Rufus Jones, a Quaker mystic. If Thurman’s philosophical ideology...
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