Established in 1992 and relocated to the Leadership Center at Morehouse College in 1998, the project publishes sermons, essays, letters and other writings of Morehouse alumnus Howard Washington Thurman (Class of ‘23), a towering figure in 20th century American religious cultural life. It is the nation’s largest documentary editing project on an African American religious figure. Over 58,000 of Thurman’s correspondence, letters and unpublished or out of printing are being researched and compiled. Editors have cataloged and researched the Howard Thurman Papers and the Sue Bailey Thurman Papers (those of his wife) at Boston University, as well as material from related collections.
In addition, the editors are building the first comprehensive database of Thurman material, which will contain more than 58,000 documents and prove to be of inestimable value to scholars and interested readers. The first volume of this four-volume documentary The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman: My People Need Me was published in November 2009 by University of South Carolina Press.
During 2009-2010, the Papers Project hosted the Howard Thurman 110th Anniversary Commemoration
celebrating the life and legacy of Howard Thurman with approximately 2,500 in attendance, including the Thurman family. The program featured a wreath laying ceremony at the Howard Thurman obelisk, a luncheon featuring Julian Bond as keynote speaker, an editor’s symposium and public conversation on the intellectual and spiritual legacy of Howard Washington Thurman. Ambassador Andrew Young, Rev. Otis Moss Jr., President Robert Franklin, Dr. Walter Earl Fluker and Dr. Barbara Holmes served as panelists.
As part of the celebration, the publication of the first volume of the project The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman was announced and copies were available for purchase. Moreover, the manuscript for volume II has been completed and submitted to the publisher for printing.
The Howard Thurman Papers Project received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Historical
Publications and Records Commission for FY 2011 .For additional information, contact the Leadership Center at 404-614-8565.
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Whatever you do, strive to do it so well that no man living and no man dead, and no man yet to be born can do it any better."
Benjamin Elijah Mays
"A Dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope."
Howard Thurman
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"It is not what you keep, but what you give that makes you happy."
Benjamin Elijah Mays
"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
Howard Thurman
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"As we face the unpredictable future, have faith that man and God will assist us all the way."
Benjamin Elijah Mays
"At the core of life is a hard purposefulness, a determination to live."
Howard Thurman
"Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for the least of these."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
