Perhaps America can learn from Martin Luther King’s teacher

By Floyd Nelson

Shortly after 6 p.m., a single bullet fired from a high-powered, big-game hunting rifle split the early evening air in Memphis, Tennessee and found its intended mark. But it wasn’t a deer, elk or bear that lay mortally wounded on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968, it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and in less than hour after the bullet struck, the man who has become one of the most celebrated ministers in American history was dead. 

King’s death rocked the entire nation. There were numerous arrests, injuries and even, deaths as more than 100 cities erupted into violence. 

President Lyndon Johnson declared a National Day of Mourning. The nation was angry and severely grief-stricken, but few were more grief-stricken than the man known as King’s “mentor, teacher and advisor” —Dr. Benjamin E. Mays.

“It was my desire that if I predeceased Dr. King, he would pay tribute to me on my final day,” said Mays, who gave the official eulogy at King’s funeral. “It was his wish that if he predeceased me, I would deliver the homily at his funeral. Fate has decreed that I eulogize him. I wish it might have been otherwise …”

An insatiable desire

Born in 1895 in a small town in South Carolina, Benjamin Elijah Mays had what was termed “an insatiable desire to get an education.” Mays’ parents had been born into slavery and freed at the end of the Civil War. Being just a stone’s throw from the unfathomable realities of enslaved people, Mays’ drive for more education and more learning was essential. 

Mays graduated from the high school at Orangeburg’s State College and began college at Virginia Union in Richmond, Virginia. Later he left the segregated South and began studying at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 1917. Later, he was ordained as a Baptist minister. 

About four years later, Mays entered Divinity School at the University of Chicago for graduate study. Mays often interrupted his education to accept teaching jobs. Mays earned his master’s degree in 1925 and his doctorate in 1935.

Mays became dean of the Howard University School of Religion, and in 1940 he became president of the prestigious all-men’s institution of higher learning, Morehouse College, an historically Black College and University. 

A 15-year-old Martin Luther King begins college 

There is no doubt, Mays, was a great influence on all who knew him and an outstanding model of educational success for young Black men attending Morehouse, particularly Martin Luther King Jr. who in 1944, graduated from high school and entered Morehouse College. A “gifted student,” King had skipped two complete grades.

Mays and King connected right away. Mays spoke regularly about social change thru non-violent means and bringing people together for the good of all. King absorbed these messages well and would even seek out Mays regularly for more discussion. King said Mays was his “spiritual mentor and intellectual father.” This unique father-son relationship continued for the duration of both men’s lives.  

Long after his graduation from Morehouse, King continued to seek out Mays for advice and guidance. King asked Mays to deliver the benediction at the famous 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Mays also supported King’s decision to speak out in 1967 against the Vietnam War. Throughout King’s life, Mays made himself always available and always supportive. 

Mays keeps a sad promise

When Mays learned King had been assassinated, he knew there was one more promise he had to keep. Mays had to deliver King’s eulogy. 

It was an old farm wagon, pulled by two mules, that brought King’s body to Morehouse College on April 9, 1968. Mays, King’s faithful and beloved teacher was waiting. 

“To be honored by being requested to give the eulogy at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Mays said, “is like asking one to eulogize his deceased son—so close and so precious was he to me.”

Today in America, people in our country people are filled with emotions that run the gamut— everything from fear and doubt to joy and certainty. At every level, relationships are either strained to new breaking points or cemented better than ever. Regardless of this myriad of feelings, I am confident this great nation, with its great people, can find a way to come together, connect with one another and work for the good of all. 

Mays taught King the value of this. Perhaps America can learn from this great teacher. Now, may be the best time ever. 

About 16 years after eulogizing King, his student, Mays died from pneumonia in an Atlanta hospital on March 28, 1984. He was 89. When King died, he was 39. Floyd Nelson is a consultant, advisor and teacher who lives in Maryland.