The  Papers of Howard Washington Thurman

Through the publication of The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, the documentary record of Thurman’s long and productive career is made accessible to the widest possible audience—scholars, non-academics, religious practitioners, students, and the broader public. The edition is published by the University of South Carolina Press.

Published in 2009, Volume 1: My People Need Me, June 1918–March 1936 begins with Thurman’s early years in his native Daytona, Florida; moves through his formal education, his leadership in the student movement, and his years at Howard University as a professor of philosophy and religion; and ends with Thurman’s historic trip to India and his meeting with Mahatma Gandhi in 1936. The second volume of the edition, Christian, Who Calls Me Christian? April 1936–August 1943, published in 2012, documents the second half of Thurman’s career at Howard University as Dean of Rankin Chapel following his return from India; and his role as a leading figure in the nascent civil rights movement, including his involvement with pacifism during the period of  World War II. Published in 2015, Volume 3: The Bold Adventure, September 1943–May 1949 documents Thurman’s founding, and leadership, of the Fellowship Church for All Peoples in San Francisco, California—the nation’s first major interracial, interfaith church.

Forthcoming in 2017, Volume 4: The Soundless Passion of a Single Mind, June 1949–December 1962 covers Thurman’s tenure as the Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, where he became the first African American Dean of Chapel at a majority-white college or university in the United States.

Forthcoming in 2018, Volume 5: The Wider Ministry, 1963–1980 documents Thurman’s activities as Director of the Howard Thurman Educational Trust, through to the months shortly before his death.

 

Copyright © 2016, 2017 by The Howard Thurman Papers Project. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.