Howard Washington Thurman

1899–1981

Introduction

Biography

Howard was the son of Saul So­lo­mon Thur­man and Al­ice Am­brose, and hus­band of Sue Bai­ley.

In 1923, he gra­du­ate­d from More­house Col­lege, At­lan­ta, Georg­ia, as va­le­dic­to­ri­an.

In 1925, he was or­dained a Bap­tist min­is­ter at the First Bap­tist Church of Ro­anoke, Vir­gin­ia, while still a stu­dent at Rochester Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry (now Col­gate Ro­che­ster Cro­zer Di­vi­ni­ty School). He gra­du­at­ed from Ro­ches­ter Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry in May 1926 as va­le­dic­to­ri­an in a class of 29 students.

From June 1926 un­til the fall of 1928, Thu­rman served as pas­tor of Mount Zi­on Bap­tist Church in Ober­lin, Ohio.

In the fall of 1928, he moved to At­lan­ta, Georgia, where he had a joint ap­point­ment to More­house Col­lege and Spel­man Col­lege in phi­lo­so­phy and re­li­gion. He lat­er served as dean of Ran­kin Cha­pel at How­ard Uni­ver­si­ty (1932–44) and dean of Marsh Cha­pel at Bo­ston Uni­ver­si­ty (1953–65).