Walking Integrity: Benjamin Elijah Mays, Mentor to Martin Luther King Jr.

by Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. (Editor)

As a clergyperson, educator, ecumenist, counselor, civil rights activist, and author, Benjamin Elijah Mays achieved national and international renown. After earning a Ph.D. in Christian theology from the University of Chicago, Mays became Dean of the Howard University School of Divinity. Serving in that capacity from 1934 to 1940, Mays's contributions turned the Divinity School into a nationally recognized institution, and earned him an invitation to become the sixth president of Atlanta's Morehouse College. In that post until his retirement in 1967, he inspired generations of students to work for racial justice in the nation that denied them their constitutional rights. His 1948 chapel address introduced Martin Luther King Jr., a Morehouse student, to Mohandas Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence. This and other contributions from his teacher led King to call Mays his most important "intellectual and spiritual mentor". Mays delivered the eulogy at King's funeral in 1968. This legacy made Benjamin Mays one of the most influential educators in twentieth-century America.Lawrence Edward Carter, Sr. has brought together in one volume eighteen essays that enunciate and celebrate Mays's rarely equalled significance as an educator and minister in twentieth century America. Other essayists include Miles Mark Fisher, Mark L. Chapman, John Hope Franklin, Samuel DuBois Cook, Lerone Bennett, Jr., Charles Shelby Rooks, and others. This is a most important volume on Martin Luther King's most important mentor.

460 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

In 1958 Martin Luther King Jr. privately recruited Lawrence Edward Carter as a 10th grader to come to Morehouse College, King’s alma mater in Atlanta, Ga. Twenty-one years later, at Morehouse, Lawrence Carter became the founder and Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, the world’s largest religious memorial to the legacy of the great civil rights leader, whose mission is to teach, encourage, and inspire ambassadors of King’s beloved world community.

Carter has spent his career working to realize King’s vision for peace and justice through education and action, including lectures at universities and seminaries around the world. Dedicated to interfaith dialogue, Carter has spoken to Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist communities, as well as to more than eighteen Christian denominations. He is also a tenured professor of religion at Morehouse, a Baptist minister, and author of four books including A Baptist Preacher’s Buddhist Teacher: How My Interfaith Journey With Daisaku Ikeda Made Me a Better Christian and Walking Integrity: Benjamin Elijah Mays as Mentor to Martin Luther King Jr.