Dr. Benjamin E. Mays—Carrying the Torch of Freedom

From his humble birth to former slaves, Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays rose to become a foundational leader in the Civil Rights movement, inspiring and counseling U.S. Presidents and social justice leaders. Visitors can explore his background and his lasting legacy at the Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historic Preservation Site in Greenwood.

While many sites related to Black history and culture across the nation have been lost, the Mays birthplace is setting the bar for preservation and interpretation of African-American history and culture in South Carolina.

Often considered the intellectual father of the Civil Rights movement, Mays wrote and spoke of standing on the shoulders of others who preceded him. However, his were the broad shoulders that provided the foundation for the giants of the Civil Rights movement: Martin Luther King, Jr, Julian Bond, Andrew Young, baseball great Henry Aaron and others.

A renowned educator, Baptist minister and activist, Mays served as dean of religious studies at Howard University. He is credited with lifting Morehouse College to international prominence as its president. Since his death in 1984, Mays’ life and legacy have been celebrated in many ways, including several biographies and “Born to Rebel, Driven to Excel,” part of a continuing South Carolina ETV series on inductees to the South Carolina Hall of Fame.

Against All Odds

Mays was the youngest of eight children, the son of parents who had been born into slavery but freed at the end of the Civil War. Born August 1, 1894, in tiny Epworth, SC, Mays’ childhood experiences on the family’s tenant farm helped shape his drive to rise above the restrictions of a segregated society. His earliest memory, of a gun-wielding mob on horseback threatening his father, was an offshoot of the Phoenix Riot of 1898. The formative experience left Mays with a burning desire for education and a better life.

After attending the Brick House School in Epworth and stints at other schools, Mays enrolled at Bates College in Maine. Treated with respect by white friends and professors, he became head of the debate team, played on the football team, and graduated with honors in 1920. He soon married his first wife, Ellen Harvin, moved to Atlanta to teach math at Morehouse College and served as pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church. After his wife’s death, he taught English at SC State College, where he met his second wife, Sadie.

Following a master’s degree and a two-year hiatus to study African-American churches, Mays published his first book, “The Negro’s Church,” in 1933. While serving as Dean of Religion at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Mays also earned a Ph.D. in Religion from the University of Chicago.

But it was when he returned to Morehouse as its president that he began to make his mark on the world. The Great Depression and World War II had decimated its student body, but Mays ramped up enrollment and increased the number of faculty members holding Ph.Ds. Under his guidance, Morehouse became one of just four colleges in Georgia to qualify for a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

In 1944, his early admissions program attracted a group of gifted 11th-grade students. One of those was Martin Luther King Jr., who later credited Mays as his spiritual and educational mentor. Mays, who had been preaching since the age of nine, also influenced King’s powerful speaking style.

Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young delivered the keynote address when the Mays house was opened to the public in 2011, saying, “if it hadn’t been for Benjamin Mays, there probably wouldn’t have been a Martin Luther King.” In fact, it was Mays who delivered the eulogy when King was assassinated in 1968. His speech is still regarded as a high point in American oratory.

Saving History for the Future

Mays’ birth home in Epworth was deteriorating, named one of South Carolina’s Eleven Most Endangered Properties. To save it, the SC Palmetto Conservation Foundation purchased the home and moved it to Greenwood in 2004. At the same time, Joseph Duran Patton, III Ph.D., the chief executive officer of GLEAMNS Human Resources Commission at the time, brought the Burns Spring School to the site as a stand-in for Mays’ childhood school. Patton was also responsible for curating the museum on the site and opened it to the public in April 2011, after considerable restoration to the house.

The birthplace and school stand today as testimony to the struggles, inspirations and achievements that formed Mays’ journey. The museum tells the story of the limitations of the racial, social, agricultural and economic obstacles of the time, and Mays’ determination not only to overcome but also to drive societal change.

The Mays site is also one of only five South Carolina places designated as “Literary Landmarks” by the American Library Association. In addition to countless sermons and speeches, Mays was the author of more than 200 articles and nine books.

An Immersive Experience

Today, visitors can explore the rooms of Mays’ childhood home and Burns Springs School, furnished in 1900-era furniture. An adjacent museum explores Dr. Mays’ life through photographs, personal memorabilia, film, speeches and books. A theater allows visitors to see a film about Mays and hear his speeches.

The grounds, with a well, an original outhouse, garden and cotton field, give visitors the opportunity to learn about the challenges of tenant farming through tools and memorabilia of the period. Picnic tables and handicap accessibility make the site a comfortable place for visitors to linger and explore.

A 10-year anniversary weekend in November, 2021, brought a series of events to the Mays site and Lander University, including a panel discussion, music, speakers and more. Numerous dignitaries, including politicians, civic leaders and actors, like Danny Glover and Susan Sarandon, have drawn inspiration from visits to the Mays site.

A Significant Site

The location of the Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historic Preservation Site has its own significance in local Black history. The home and school are on the site of the GLEAMNS property, once part of the former Brewer Hospital and School site.

The Brewer Institute, established in 1872 specifically to educate newly emancipated Blacks, later became the Brewer Normal School and then Brewer High School. Named for the Rev. Josiah Brewer, a Congregationalist minister and scholar, the Brewer school and, later, the segregated Brewer Hospital, received much of their funding from the American Missionary Association and Congregationalist churches.

The old hospital is now the headquarters of GLEAMNS, a human resource commission designed to help provide the tools to break the cycle of poverty. Named for the Greenwood, Laurens, Edgefield, Abbeville, McCormick, Newberry and Saluda counties that it supports, GLEAMNS’ connection to the Mays site is a reminder of the promise and possibility of education and determination.

The Mays site is part of the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, one of several South Carolina sites that help explore and interpret the state’s complex role in African-American history and civil rights.

Changes Ahead

The historical site is poised to add new opportunities for education, preservation and community. Construction of a new facility will expand the site’s footprint with a commercial kitchen, courtyard and more space for programs and memorabilia. The additions will allow for larger special events, such as reunions and classes, and make it easier to teach about the life and legacy of the Civil Rights icon.

Tours and events will continue throughout the construction, Chris Thomas says. People are welcome to stop by from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on weekdays, or to call ahead for tours and group events.