[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 120 (Sunday, August 21, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  A POSTHUMOUS TRIBUTE TO DR. BENJAMIN ELIJAH MAYS ON HIS CENTENNIAL 
                               BIRTHDATE

                                 ______


                            HON. JOHN LEWIS

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Sunday, August 21, 1994

  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
man who was a leader in the civil rights movement, a dedicated 
educator, and a friend of many, Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays. Dr. Mays 
passed away 10 years ago last March. He would have been 100 years of 
this August. An inspired speaker, Dr. Mays once told a group of 
African-American students, ``I will live in vain, if I do not act so 
that you will be freer than I am--freer intellectually, freer 
politically, and freer economically.'' True to his word, no one has 
worked harder to increase educational opportunities for African-
Americans, and in doing so, advanced the cause for civil rights in this 
country, than Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays.
  Dr. Mays, the son of former slaves and the youngest of eight 
children, was born with an instinctive yearning to know, to learn, and 
to become educated. Yet, as a young African-American living in 
Greenwood County, SC, at the turn of the century, Mays encountered 
discrimination that was often fierce and unrelenting. African-Americans 
were expected to do farmwork, not schoolwork. The attitude in Greenwood 
County was perhaps best epitomized by the Governor of South Carolina at 
the time, who in 1911 said:

       I am opposed to the white people's taxes being used to 
     educate the Negroes. I am a friend of the Negro race. In my 
     opinion, when the people of this country began to try to 
     educate the Negro, they made a serious and grave mistake, and 
     I fear the worst result is yet to come. So why continue?

  Disregarding every obstacle, every prejudice, Benjamin Mays 
continued. With great passion and strength of character, he forged a 
path towards enlightenment. He continued even as the white-to-black 
ratio for county spending on education was 27 to 1. He continued even 
as he felt, as he later said, ``the chasm was so wide between black and 
white * * * that I never felt that any white person in Greenwood County 
or in South Carolina would be interested in anything I did.'' And, he 
continued even as doing so challenged the entrenched racial balance in 
South Carolina and risked hostile, even violent, opposition. Nothing 
distracted Benjamin Mays from his dream to become educated, and in 
doing so, to become ``somebody.''
  At the Brickhouse Elementary School in Greenwood County, Benjamin 
Mays quickly became the best student in the class. He excelled at the 
2-year Baptist Association School in McCormick, SC. At South Carolina 
State high school, he became valedictorian of his class. And, at Bates 
College in Maine, he later said, he was given a chance to prove to 
himself that the myth of white intellectual superiority was, indeed, a 
myth. He became an honor student and a star intercollegiate debater. 
Some years later, at the University of Chicago, he received both a 
masters degree and a doctorate of philosophy.

  Even as he worked to secure this own education, Dr. Mays began a long 
career devoted to ensuring that every African-American would have a 
chance for a quality education and consequently, a better life. He 
became dean of the School of Religion at Howard University in 1934. 
During his 6-year tenure, he succeeded in substantially increasing 
enrollment, strengthening the faculty, enlarging and improving the 
school library, and ensuring that the School of Religion became 
accredited by the American Association of Theological Schools.
  While at Howard University, Dr. Mays attended several world 
conferences which focused on problems confronting youth in the world, 
including race relations. During one such conference in Mysore, India, 
his greatest desire was to meet with Mahatma Ghandi, to question his 
ideas on nonviolent protest and his reasons for identifying with the 
``untouchables'' of the caste system. He was granted a meeting, and the 
90-minute discussion that ensued helped shape Dr. Mays' own views on 
nonviolence as a means of political protest. In later years, Dr. Mays 
would often speak in support of nonviolence, particularly during 
Tuesday morning chapel lectures he delivered to students as President 
of Morehouse College.
  In 1940, Dr. Mays accepted an offer to become the sixth President of 
Morehouse College in Atlanta. Over the course of 27 years, Dr. Mays 
succeeded in transforming the struggling and financially destitute 
local college into a nationally recognized African-American institution 
of higher learning. He increased enrollment dramatically, secured new 
sources of funding, and boosted morale. As a result of his efforts, the 
number of Morehouse graduates who went on to graduate and professional 
schools tripled.
  At Morehouse, Dr. Mays became friend and mentor to one of the 
greatest leaders of the 20th century, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. 
King, who as a student was greatly influenced by Dr. Mays' emphasis on 
nonviolence as a means of political protest, later referred to Dr. Mays 
as his ``spiritual mentor.'' Dr. King sought the advice and counsel of 
Dr. Mays on many occasions, both before and during the civil rights 
movement. If there had been no Benjamin Mays, there would have been no 
Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Dr. Mays' energy was legendary. Widely considered one of the most 
published academics in the world, Dr. Mays published 9 books, 1,700 
editorials, 18 chapters for various books, 112 journal and magazine 
articles, and 65 articles in the Morehouse College Alumni Bulletin. He 
delivered over 800 lectures, sermons, addresses, and eulogies, 
including that of our mutual friend and colleague, Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr.
  Dr. Mays spent his lifetime working tirelessly so that future 
generations of African-Americans would be freer spiritually and freer 
intellectually. He believed that freedom of the mind and soul was the 
key to social freedom, political freedom, and economic freedom. He 
single-handedly cultivated an institution geared toward producing 
African-American leaders. Yet, in characteristic modesty, he has said 
simply, ``If I have helped in any way, pass it on.''
  In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Laureate and civil rights 
leader, was perhaps the most famous example of leadership arising from 
Morehouse. Today, Morehouse graduates are leaders in every part of 
society--in religion, law, medicine, art, philosophy, and government. 
Today, Morehouse graduates are Members of this Congress--Congressman 
Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Congressman Earl Hilliard of Alabama, and 
Congressman Major Owens of New York. Morehouse graduates are making a 
difference around the country. The list goes on: Julian Bond, lecturer 
and civil rights leader; Dr. Louis Sullivan, former Health and Human 
Services Secretary; Lerone Bennett, author and executive editor of 
Ebony magazine; Robert Johnson, executive editor of Jet magazine; 
Maynard Jackson, former mayor of Atlanta; Edwin Moses, Olympian; Spike 
Lee, filmmaker; Herman Cain, founder of Godfather's Pizza; and, Nima 
Warfield, the Nation's first African-American Rhodes Scholar from a 
historically Black institution.
  As graduates of Morehouse College continue to become our Nation's 
strongest leaders, and as African-American students at Morehouse 
continue to receive one of the best educations in the country, the 
legacy of Dr. Mays lives on. In honor of his centennial birthdate, I 
ask my colleagues to join me in commemorating the life of Dr. Benjamin 
Elijah Mays, a leader most appropriately called the schoolmaster of the 
civil rights movement.

                          ____________________