The 38th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. College of Ministers & Laity 2024 Program

38th martin luther king jr. College of Ministers & Laity

Saving Democracy While Thriving in the Wake of Cosmic Trauma

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 6 p.m.

celebrating the blessings of ramadan concert

Thursday, April 11, 2024 11 a.m.

benjamin elijah mays induction crown forum

Thursday, April 11, 2024 7 p.m.

nonviolent cosmic worldhouse assembly

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Wednesday, April 10 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Celebrating the Blessings of Ramadan Concert

Free event featuring music, african drumming, and poetry

performances by : Ice Karim, Cyde Effect, Salymah IV, Obiaj

hosted by :

Effective Poetry & Atanta Masjid of Al-Islam

rsvp : effectivepoetry.com/life

Thursday, April 11 9:30am – 10:30am

Inductee Orientation and Guided Tour

location :

Chapel Library, Crown Nave, International Hall of Honor, Memorial Lobby and International Plaza

Inductees Only

Thursday, April 11 11:00am – 12:00pm

Benjamin Elijah Mays Crown Forum & MLK Jr. Induction Ceremony

“On A Darkly Radiant Vision: The Black Social Gospel in the Shadow of MLK”

speaker :

The Reverend Gary John Dorrien, Ph.D. Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics

Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY

location :

Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel

Crown Nave

Open to the public

38th martin luther king jr. College of Ministers & Laity

Thursday, April 11 12:30pm – 2:00pm

Honoree Luncheon

“On The New Abolition, Breaking White Supremacy, and a Darkly Radiant Vision”

keynote speaker :

The Reverend Gary John Dorrien, Ph.D.

moderator :

The Reverend Devon Jerome Crawford ’15

Associate Campus Minister

Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel

Morehouse College

location :

Shirley A. Massey Executive Conference Center by Invitation Only (Ticket Required)

5:00pm

Thurman Thursday: MLK Jr. International Chapel Assistants Meeting

“A Courageous Conversation on Christian Nationalism, American White Supremacy, and the Burden of Freedom Checked by Responsibility”

featuring :

The Reverend Bill J. Leonard, Ph.D. and The Reverend Dwight A. Moody, Ph.D.

location :

MLK Jr. Int’l Chapel African American Hall of Fame (second floor)

7:00pm

Nonviolent Cosmic WorldHouse Assembly and Conferring the Gandhi-King-Ikeda Community Builder’s Prize, Gandhi-KingMandela Peace Prize, and Oil Portrait Inductions

location :

Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel

Crown Nave

Open to the public

From the President of the College

Welcome from the President

What a pleasure it is to welcome you to the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel and the 38th Martin Luther King Jr. College of Minister and Laity at Morehouse College. Since my arrival, much has changed at Morehouse, in the nation, around the world, and beyond. These are exciting times, and thanks to the support of so many, Morehouse is transforming itself to transform the world.

Led by the 44-year commitment and visionary leadership of the Reverend Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., founding dean of the Chapel, professor of religion and curator of the College, the edifice you are in has also experienced a magnificent transformation. There are more enhancements on the horizon and Morehouse owes a debt of gratitude to the vibrant leadership and the enduring legacy that Dean Carter is demonstrating. Each honoree and attendee at this celebration is reaping the benefit of the keen and watchful gaze of our beloved dean and I offer a personal word of thanks for his extraordinary contributions. His staff and other Morehouse team members have contributed tirelessly to the effort to make this time to be remembered.

Congratulations to the exemplary Class of 2024 honorees and inductees. We are exceptionally honored to confer the Gandhi•King•Ikeda Community Builder’s Prize this evening on Wanjira Mathai, Managing Director for Africa and Global Partnerships at the World Resources Institute, Chairperson of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and Senior Advisor of the Partnerships for Women Entrepreneurs in Renewables in East Africa. The Gandhi•King•Mandela Peace Prize will be conferred on Gary John Dorrien, PhD, Episcopal Priest, Distinguished Professor, and Democratic Socialist Activist who is our speaker for the Induction Crown Forum. Dr. Dorrien is also known for his Trilogy of books that highlight the efficacy of the Black Social Gospel Tradition. We look forward to their timely insight, expounding on the multi-year theme of the Chapel, “Saving Democracy While Thriving in the Wake of Cosmic Trauma.”

There are too many donors to thank for the financial support that undergirds the restoration of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel and the expanded programming made possible by the upgrades and improvements to this historic College Treasure. Morehouse is grateful to everyone who energetically supports the Chapel’s incredibly important work to foster sustainability, peace, understanding, and equity in the world.

Thank you for your continuing support and engagement as the legacy continues.

Sincerely,

David A. Thomas, Ph.D. Twelfth President, Morehouse College

From the Dean of Chapel

FROM THE DEAN OF CHAPEL

Welcome from the Dean

We extend a warm welcome to all who learn, evolve, worship, dedicate, and aspire in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel today. Our purpose as an intentional spiritual community is to be a living environment for individuals to realize that they are unique emanations of God, the love-intelligence governing the Omniverse. We embody an understanding of our oneness with God, and we consciously practice this truth in our everyday lives. Through the wisdom-agency of normative cosmopolitan personalist virtue-ethical optional technologies, and the energy of unconditional love, we are committed to individual transformation, and to being a beneficial presence in the cosmos. Simply, we are here for God!

It is our hope that this experience of awareness, prayer, praise, prophetic and pastoral preaching, praxis, and philosophy will greatly enrich your life and bring you into a meaningful connection with God, nature, and people in a holistic understanding of Christian cosmology as moral cosmopolitans and cosmic citizens.

Historically Black churches and historically Black colleges, with chapels, appeared from the mind of Black and White northern and southern freedom loving abolitionists, as the strongest way to fight racial oppression, promote Reconstruction, and champion the Black social gospel. This tradition affirmed the dignity, sacred personhood, creativity, and moral agency of African Americans, and launched a new liberal liberationist abolitionism with an advanced role for the Black church, fresh from the freedom spaces of Brush and Hush Harbors, and the celebratory sounds, symbols, and traditions of West Africa, in response to the tragedy of American legal slavery.

The Crown Forums, the First Year Assemblies and the Vesper Hours address the deepest aspirations of the human spirit, that transcend needs, pain, suffering, and death. In so doing, they seek to affirm and enliven whatever may be the religious orientation, which gives meaning and richness to your life, and deepen the authentic lines along which your quest for spiritual reality has led you. Your time in the College Chapel is an hour of challenge, critique, responsibility, dedication, evaluation, obligation, stimulation, and a commitment to actualizing potentials, as you consider the issues affecting the sacredness of our common humanity and autonomy competency. The Chapel is a symbol of the intent of Morehouse College to recognize spirituality—sustainable cooperation justice—as fundamental to the human experience.

We look hopefully toward our common future with the informed expectation that your participation during this day, and ongoing activities emerging from your diverse, but conscientious perspectives, will creatively transform the Cosmos in just and nonviolent ways. Peace is Possible!

Sincerely,

Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., 33˚Ph.D., D.D., D.H., D.R.S., D.H.C., MULT.

Founding Dean of the Chapel, Professor of Religion, College Archivist and Curator

Founder, Gandhi-King-Ikeda-Mandela Institute for Cosmopolitan Ethics and Reconciliation

Director, Martin Luther King Jr. College of Pastoral Leadership

Chairman, Howard Thurman Spiritual Educational Trust

Director, WorldHouse Academy Co-Founder, Covenant

The Occasion

To Celebrate the Twenty-Fourth Anniversary of the Gandhi-King-Ikeda-Mandela Institute for Cosmopolitan Virtue-Ethics and Reconciliation

Today, we gather to celebrate the twenty-fourth anniversary of the Gandhi-King-Ikeda-Mandela (GKIM) Institute for Cosmopolitan Virtue-Ethics and Reconciliation, a program that focuses on meditation, conflict transformation, and peace. As we work together locally, globally, and cosmically to create a legacy of nonviolent teachings, it will be an audacious challenge calling for justice, and compassion for the children of the world. We must be the change we wish to see.

We celebrate the immortal spirits of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and the wisdom of Daisaku Ikeda that emanate from the times and places of their lives into the future and throughout the world. We must be the change we wish to see.

We honor the founding of the GKIM Institute to heal and revive human hearts and minds deeply wounded by violent ideologies, trauma, and inequalities to open the way for a healing chapter in human history. We must be the change we wish to see.

We celebrate the creation of the GKIM Institute because the Mahatma demonstrated unconditional love in recognizing the need for nonviolent training and discipline that has also served as a cornerstone for the work of King, Ikeda, and Mandela. They exhibited an awareness that it is only by developing the discipline of self-control that people truly understand the science and spirituality of nonviolence and use it to overcome their weaknesses and realize their own strength. We must be the change we wish to see.

We advance the personalities and principles of Gandhi, King, Ikeda, and Mandela for their exalted way of peaceful living, inspired by a deep sense of integrity; and because of their commitment to creative social reform, leading people to develop global networks of sustainable

cooperation and human solidarity. We must be the change we wish to see.

We forge a mission to link the “love-olutions” of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Daisaku Ikeda, and Nelson Mandela so that the four may come together at this hour to transform the old world into a new WorldHouse of moral citizenship, tolerance, respect for difference, and diversity—maturity grounded in spiritual oneness. We must be the change we wish to see.

We commemorate the life, legacy, and character of the barefoot saint of India who believed in the immense spiritual and religious potential that resides equally in each of us. His legacy inspired King and Ikeda to become prophets of inner spiritual transformation for individuals and communities that has sparked reformations in politics, education, economics, and cultures as well as, reconciliation between genders, nations, races and religions. We cannot have what we are not willing to be. We do not get what we desire, we get what we are.

Therefore, because the Mahatma’s spiritual legacy is one of humanity’s priceless treasures, we, the people of the planet, strengthen our numerical forces at this critical juncture in history to accelerate the Gandhi-King-IkedaMandela Institute for Cosmopolitan Virtue-Ethics and Reconciliation in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College and the global movement for peace and nonviolence. Today we teach activism, nonviolence, optimism, and populism in the spirit of Gandhi, King, Ikeda, and Mandela promoting a holistic vision for the growth, health, safety, and wellbeing of our evolving beloved economic, political, cosmic world community. Our vision is the creation of a global society in which the full development of each individual’s potential is the central goal.

Adapted from the dedicatory Litany to establish the Gandhi Institute, April 2, 2000.

The Magic of the Ben Ben Stone

It was the tendency of the ancient monument-builders of the Nile to codify their symbolic teachings in stone. Thus, for those who knew the “language,” the physical structure and placement of a monument, temple, or other sacred building unveiled a deeper story.

The Ben Ben, or “obelisk,” was such a significant monument that, during the New Kingdom (1580-1200 BC), it came to symbolize Kemit itself. The Ben Ben was clearly a sun and light symbol, dedicated to Ra, embodying the transcendence immanent in Ra’s Light. The Ben Ben’s soaring lines were meant to evoke this transcendence and its connection to the solar light was imbued in the capstone or pyramidion, coated in a gold-silver alloy called nubhedj (“electrum”), with a brilliant reflection could be seen 50 miles away on a clear day.

The term Ben Ben is a doubling of the old Kamite word ben meaning “man, phallus, beget.” It is the source of the Hebrew ben or Arabin ibn meaning “son of.” The ancient Nile dwellers clearly understood that the rays of the sun fructified the earth and all life upon it and therefore made that all important heavenly body the archetypal symbol of the Heavenly Father whom they called Ra. The Ben Ben, though, is more than a mere “phallic symbol”; it is a sign of the sun (or Ra’s) fructifying light-ray materialized in granite.

In the mind of the ancient priests of the Nile, light, consciousness, and understanding were synonymous. Thus, the Ben Ben codified the process of enlightenment, achieved through the correct acquisition of knowledge and the slow revelation of cosmic wisdom. Under such influence, dark mysteries and unexamined secrets were made manifest.

The Ben Ben yet retains its power to inspire the imagination, and to encapsulate transcendence. Again and again, the modern architect re-erects obeliscoid forms because the elegant, geometric harmony of the Ben Ben speaks a language that continually excites the creative instincts of man. Time and again, we return to this ancient architectural form not because we lack other models, but because it expresses for us the cosmic imperative of our indwelling spirit. Through the Ben Ben, we pay homage to the Light Bringer, the Father of All, and the best of His Creation.

by Charles Sumner Finch III, M.D. Former Director of International Programs, Morehouse School of Medicine

Memorial Howard Washington Thurman

The Howard Washington Thurman Memorial obelisk on the campus of Morehouse College is a celebration of the process of enlightenment, achieved through the deliberate acquisition of knowledge, understanding, and the slow revelation of cosmic wisdom.

The monument rises in the shadow of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, marking the resting place of Thurman, a 1923 graduate and nationally respected theologian who was considered a forerunner in the religious movement of celebrating

the unity of all people, and embracing a religious spirituality that was intercultural, interracial, interdenominational, and international.

During its heyday (1580-1200 B.C.), the obelisk was a sun and light symbol, embodying the transcendence immanent in God’s light. The obelisk remains a symbol of man’s creativity and wisdom. At Morehouse, the monument serves as a beacon for scholarly pursuits, visionary leadership, compassionate service, and a worldview that inspires positive change.

prelude

processional

Benjamin Elijah Mays Induction Crown Forum

The Reverend Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. Presiding Founding Dean of the Chapel, Professor of Religion, and Curator []

call to a ssembly and introductions

the charge to the inductees

“Praeludium in G Major”

Arr. Felix Mendelssohn

“Trumpet Tune”

Arr. John Stanley

David Francis Oliver, DMA

Dr. Oliver

The Reverend Dean Carter

Dean Carter

2024 Class of Inductees into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers, Sponsors, and Collegium of Scholars

Ronald K. Alexander

Renee Lavana Alston

Derek Anderson

Naomi Adele André

Obi Asika

Jonathan Cunningham Augustine

Shawn Victor Austin

Emory Berry, Jr.

Helen Berry

Reginald Blount

Willie Bodrick, II

Krystal Marie Bracy

Tar-U-Way Richard

Allen Bright Sr.

Vanessa Motoka Brown

Myron Dewayne Brown

Charles Anthony Bryant

Stephen Michael Cady

Bryan L. Carter

Joi Carr

Raymond Carr

Benjamin Franklin Chavis

Courtney L. Clayton Jenkins

Damien Alexander Conners

Leonard Curry

Marvin Luther Crawford

Ammie L. Davis

introduction of speaker

musical selection

a ddress

college hymn

Charles Harold Frederick Davis III

Demetrius Lee Davis

Leo Henry Davis, Jr.

Jean Derricotte-Murphy

Ambre Lynae Morgan

Dromgoole

Kelon D. Duke

Xavier Eikerenkoetter

Kenneth Elmore

Valerie Tate Everett

Timothy Brandon Farmer

Julius B. Fleming Jr

Yvette A. Flunder

Sheleta Evette Fomby

Nyle Fort

Grisanthia Dale Franklin

Kyndra Danyelle Frazier

Sara Taylor Garrard

John F. Green

Henry E. Green Jr

David W. Green Sr.

Gregory Hall

Jarvis Jermaine Hanson

Sammie Haynes

Daniel Anthony Heath

Jeremy Q. Henry

James Howard Hill Jr.

Michael Hodge

Betty Whitted Holley

Darryl Bernard Holloman

Charles Anthony Hunt

Raymond Ingram

Judson L. Jeffries

Malene Minor Johnson

Juleun Andrew Johnson

Cornelius V. Johnson III

Harry E. Johnson

Jennifer Barkley Jones Austin

Bryan Anton Jones

Melanie Chanté Jones Quarles

Delesslyn Audra Kennebrew

Tammy Lynn Kernodle

Kerwin Broussard Lee

Bill J. Leonard

Charles Hannon Lewter IV

Vincent William Lloyd

Jared Anthony Loggins

Shannon Heath Longino

Debbie Marriott-Harrison

Elmer S. Martin Sr.

Elijah Llewellyn McDavid III

Robert L. McDowell

Marlon Millner

Dwight A. Moody

Rashad Raymond Moore

Joshua Maurice Myers

Nathaniel Norment Jr.

Marcus Clevon North

Jeffrey Ogbonna Green Ogbar

Ray A. Owens

Brianna Katrice Parker

DeAndre B. Patterson

Veronica Perry

Kevin Lamár Peterman

Bridget LaShonne Piggue

Teddy RaShaan Reeves

Richard Price

De’Quon Antonio Quarles

Frank Leon Roberts

Quintin L. Robertson

Troy Sanders

Alphonso F. Saville, IV

Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou

David Shosanya

Angelic Simmons

Jonathan Buckley Small

Adrianne Camille Smith

Michael Allan Smith

Teresa E. Snorton

Jack Spencer Jr.

Danté Christian Stewart

“See the Victory Before Us and Walk On”

Words & Music by Dr. Uzee Brown Jr. ’72

“On A Darkly Radiant Vision: The Black Social Gospel in the Shadow of MLK”

“Dear Old Morehouse”

J.O.B. Mosley ’29

David Edward Morrow, DMA ’80 Professor, Chair of the Music Department, Director of the Glee Club

David Francis Oliver, DMA Morehouse College Organist

Nicole Sarita Symmonds

Christopher Taylor Sr.

Richard Lewis Taylor

Curt D. Thomas

Donna Eugenia Thomas Walker

Rossie Emitt Turman

George Bernard Walker

Jarrett Britton Washington

Taurean Jamar Webb

Bryson Chester Matthew White

Johnathan Thomas Gabriel Wilkins Sr.

Daryl L. Williams

Jaronn Cordell Williams

Sonya E. Williams

Bruce Wilson

Ramah Wright

Simon Woolley

Chelsea Brooke Yarborough

Elizabeth Elaine Yates

Nicholas Kristopher Young

David Ziyambi

Dr. David A. Thomas

12th President, Morehouse College

Morehouse College Glee Club

The Reverend John Gary Dorrien, Ph.D. Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary Professor of Religion, Columbia University

CHARGE TO THE 2024 CML INDUCTEES

Iam pleased today to induct you into the Morehouse College Black Social Gospel tradition – founded in 1867 by William Jefferson White, greatly enhanced by William Edward Burghardt DuBois, John Hope, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, Benjamin Elijah Mays, Howard Washington Thurman, and widely acclaimed during the nonviolent prophetic Civil Rights Movement, led by Martin Luther King Jr.

As members of the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers, Board of Sponsors, and Collegium of Scholars, you join a pantheon of adaptive leaders whose virtue ethical, spiritual, and moral example has helped change the world.

Among them: Henry Lyman Morehouse, Adam Daniel Williams, Martin Luther King Sr., Ralph David Abernathy Sr., Floyd McKissick, Samuel Woodrow Williams, Thomas Kilgore Jr., James Madison Nabritt, and Thurgood Marshall.

I charge you, therefore, to follow in their footsteps – and even to do greater things – as affirmative, appreciative, coherently critical and engaged role models for this generation of students, always remembering that our vision is the creation of an inclusive, global, dignitarian society in which the full development of each individual’s potential is realized.

Further, I charge you to be faithful servant scholar leaders, guarantors of continuity, celebrators of change, negotiators of structure, facilitators of meaning, practitioners of cosmopolitan ethics, and co-creators of the Beloved Economic Political Cosmic WorldHouse Community, to the end that we will right the age-old wrongs that continue to haunt the American people and others around the world.

Finally, I charge you to use your time, talent, tender and technology to help usher in an age of diversity maturity, peace, and nonviolence for the children of the world, to raise another generation of ethically inspired leaders committed to building a radically inclusive humanity.

In token of our hope and confidence in you, we present these citations, which list 49 cosmopolitan virtue ethical options by which Martin Luther King Jr. and many Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Scientists and Secular Humanists live their lives and transform society.

Testifying to this investiture, and in witness whereof under the seals of the College and the Chapel, the signatures of duly authorized officers are hereunto affixed, this 11th day of April 2024, Per Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum.

Martin Luther King Jr.

2024 BOARD OF PREACHERS Inductees

Renee Lavana Alston Jonathan Cunningham Augustine Willie Bodrick II Tar-U-Way Richard Allen Bright Sr. Vanessa Motoka Brown

Bryan L. Carter Benjamin Franklin Chavis Courtney L. Clayton Jenkins

Demetrius Lee Davis Kelon D. Duke Xavier Eikerenkoetter Valerie Tate Everett Timothy Brandon Farmer

Sheleta Evette Fomby Grisanthia Dale Franklin Kyndra Danyelle Frazier Sara Taylor Garrard

John F. Green

Henry E. Green Jr. David W. Green Sr.

Jarvis Jermaine Hanson Sammie Haynes

Marvin Luther Crawford

Damien Alexander Conners

Martin Luther King Jr. 2024 BOARD OF PREACHERS Inductees

Daniel Anthony Heath Jeremy Q. Henry Juleun Andrew Johnson Bryan Anton Jones Delesslyn Audra Kennebrew

Kerwin Broussard Lee Charles Hannon Lewter IV Elmer S. Martin Sr.

Rashad Raymond Moore Ray A. Owens Brianna Katrice Parker DeAndre B. Patterson Kevin Lamár Peterman

David Shosanya Angelic Simmons

Michael Allan Smith

Teresa E. Snorton Jack Spencer Jr.

Richard Price De’Quon Antonio Quarles

Quintin L. Robertson

Troy Sanders Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou

Robert L. McDowell

Elijah Llewellyn McDavid III

Martin Luther King Jr.

2024 BOARD OF PREACHERS Inductees

Christopher Taylor Sr. Curt D. Thomas Donna Eugenia Thomas Walker George Bernard Walker

Jarrett Britton Washington Johnathan Thomas Gabriel Wilkins Sr.

Daryl L. Williams

Bruce Wilson Ramah Wright

Elizabeth Elaine Yates

Nicholas Kristopher Young

Sonya E. Williams

Martin Luther King Jr.

2024 BOARD OF SPONSORS Inductees

Ronald K. Alexander Derek Anderson Shawn Victor Austin

Krystal Marie Bracy Charles Anthony Bryant

Leo Henry Davis Jr.

Debbie Marriott-Harrison

Raymond Ingram

Jonathan Buckley Small

Harry E. Johnson

Adrianne Camille Smith

Shannon Heath Longino

David Ziyambi

Jennifer Barkley Jones Austin

Richard Lewis Taylor

Martin Luther King Jr.

2024 COLLEGIUM OF SCHOLARS Inductees

Naomi Adele André Obi Asika Emory Berry Jr.

Helen Berry

Myron Dewayne Brown Stephen Michael Cady Joi Carr

Charles Harold Frederick Davis III

Jean Derricotte-Murphy Ambre Lynae Morgan Dromgoole Kenneth Elmore

Julius B. Fleming Jr Nyle Fort Gregory Hall

James Howard Hill Jr. Michael Hodge

Betty Whitted Holley Darryl Bernard Holloman

Judson L. Jeffries

Leonard Curry

Ammie L. Davis

Raymond Carr

Cornelius V. Johnson III Malene Minor Johnson Melanie Chanté Jones Quarles Tammy Lynn Kernodle Bill J. Leonard

Vincent William Lloyd Jared Anthony Loggins Joshua Maurice Myers

Nathaniel Norment Jr. Marcus Clevon North Jeffrey Ogbonna Green Ogbar

Veronica Perry

Rossie Emitt Turman

Taurean Jamar Webb

Bryson Chester Matthew White

Simon Woolley

Chelsea Brooke Yarborough

Bridget LaShonne Piggue

Teddy RaShaan Reeves Frank Leon Roberts

Alphonso F. Saville IV

Nicole Sarita Symmonds

Dwight A. Moody Marlon Millner

Mohandas Karamchand “Mahatma” Gandhi (1869-1948)

Gandhi has been chosen by the people of India, England, and by countless citizens throughout the globe as the greatest world leader of the past 1,000 years. Through the use of nonviolence, fasting, and religious tolerance, he developed and tested the means for ending an era of colonial domination and imperialism. He elevated the love ethic of Jesus to the level of international diplomacy. Using his insightful and thorough reading of John Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the BhagavadGita, the Bible, the Koran, and the philosophies and scriptures of other world religions, he instituted a form of universal worship and promoted a love for truth, regardless of its source. This reading further encouraged him to remain by pain or pleasure, victory or defeat, and to work without promise of success or fear of failure. He spent a total of 10 years imprisoned by the British, a period that witnessed the proliferation of his writings, which now fill 100 volumes, each over 500 pages in length.

may ignore him at our own risk .... He is the Christian of the century.”

The world does not realize, however, that the Mahatma was not always nonviolent. Gandhi acknowledged many times that his wife of 62 years, Kasturbai Kapadia Gandhi, in her natural unassuming Hindu manner, taught him the art, practice, and science of nonviolence. Her temperament caused Gandhi to publicly declare that he believed women to have a natural predisposition to nonviolent leadership. While Gandhi was in prison, his wife spoke on his behalf and fasted on the same strict vegetarian diet he used. Gandhi himself acknowledged and documented Kasturbai’s courage and bravery to be greater than his own.

Officials of the government of India have informed us that nowhere outside of India have Mahatma and Kasturbai, whose name means “the great mother,” been honored together as perhaps the most influential family of the 20th century. This joint recognition is long overdue and greatly needed, not only to recognize the role of women but also to complete the humanity of all of us.

Gandhi’s civil disobedience and nonviolent demonstrations in South Africa and India won greater freedom and ultimately, independence for 400 million Indians after three centuries of British rule. It also inspired the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Albert Luthuli, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Mother Teresa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, the Dalai Lama, and Thich Nhat Hanh.

It is because of his selfless devotion to service and scholarship for the dispossessed—dressing like them, speaking their language, and living among them—that billions today continue to grant Gandhi the title “Mahatma “ and to regard him as a Christian, Judaic, Buddhist, Islamic, and Hindu saint.

The Mahatma was the catalyst, if not the initiator, of five of the major revolutions of the twentieth century: the revolutions against colonialism, racism, violence, and sexism, and for ecology. According to Albert Einstein, “Gandhi organized the people of India into a mass movement on a scale without precedent or parallel. He was the greatest political genius in human history. Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon the earth.”

Gandhi’s life and achievements also caused Martin Luther King Jr. to say, “Gandhi was inevitable. If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought, and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We

Six related Morehouse personalities have Gandhi connections which have facilitated the development of this nation. These six persons are Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, Howard Washington Thurman, Benjamin Elijah Mays, Samuel Woodrow Williams, Martin Luther King Jr., Floyd McKissick, and Charles Radford Lawrence. All of these gentlemen must be credited with midwifing Gandhian nonviolence into the American body politic. Martin Luther King Jr. claimed Gandhi, Johnson, Thurman, Mays, Williams, and Lawrence as his mentors. Floyd McKissick, who attended Morehouse, succeeded James Farmer as the head of the Congress of Racial Equality, which was founded on the principles of Gandhian nonviolence. The awarding of honorary degrees to the Gandhis symbolized Morehouse’s continued recognition of the transforming role of nonviolence in the sound construction and healthy maintenance of our ever-emerging world house. The Mahatma is indeed the greatest world leader of the 20th century.

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

“T

he ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,” said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Throughout the 20th century, no American leader demonstrated more moral courage and spiritual leadership in the face of extreme adversity than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As a modern day prophet and civil rights leader, King worked assiduously to “redeem the soul of America.” His pronounced opposition to racism, militarism, and materialism exceeded the ideals posited by any private citizen or elected public official in America during the last century.

King was a man of ideas and action. He engaged in civil disobedience, and he inspired protest movements for civil rights and human rights. His unwavering faith in the power of love, and his philosophy of nonviolence, skillfully and brilliantly represented the hopes and dreams of the poor and dispossessed throughout the world. Dr. King’s leadership, unquestionably, reshaped the racial landscape in the American South and, indeed, in the nation; moreover, his vision of equality encouraged the development of political and economic justice in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South Africa. His sincere heartfelt compassion for people transcended

race and class and even revised the paradigm of equality by embracing the beloved community.

Dr. King’s commitment to peace and justice received widespread acclaim. Time magazine recognized him as “Man of the Year” in 1963, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and he became the only non-elected American to be recognized with a federal holiday in 1983. In 1998, Congress authorized the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Foundation to establish a memorial in his honor. This memorial is located on the Tidal Basin near the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial and between the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials.

Yet, in the new millennium, it is evident that Dr. King’s most enduring legacy can be summed up in his own words: he tried to feed the hungry and he tried to clothe the naked. He was a drum major for justice, a drum major for peace, and a drum major for righteousness. He gave his life loving his enemies while serving humanity. Clearly, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is the most significant American leader of the 20th century. His tireless leadership, his unselfish spirit, and his undying influence on the maturation of American freedom and democracy will forever impact the lives of unborn generations throughout the world.

Daisaku Ikeda (1928-2023)

Daisaku Ikeda is a peacebuilder, Buddhist philosopher, educator, author, and poet. He was president of the Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist organization in Japan from 1960–79 and is the founding president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), one of the world’s largest and most diverse communitybased Buddhist associations, promoting a philosophy of empowerment and social engagement for peace. He is also the founder of the Soka Schools system and several international institutions promoting peace, culture, and education.

Ikeda was born in Tokyo, Japan, on January 2, 1928, the fifth of eight children, to a family of seaweed farmers. Growing up during World War II, he endured firsthand the suffering and devastation of war, including the death of his eldest brother who was killed in action in Burma (present-day Myanmar). This experience as a teenager gave birth to a lifelong passion to work for peace and root out the fundamental causes of human conflict.

In 1947, at the age of 19, he encountered Buddhism through a meeting with Josei Toda (1900–58), who was an educator, pacifist, and leader of the Soka Gakkai. Toda had been imprisoned during the war with his mentor Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871–1944). Both held firm to their religious convictions in the face of oppression by the military authorities who imposed State Shinto ideology on the population as a means of sanctifying their war of aggression, and Makiguchi had died in prison. Toda’s resolve to stand up to the militarist regime impressed Ikeda, who would later write, “The words of a person who had suffered imprisonment for his convictions carried a special weight. I felt intuitively that I could trust him.” Although Ikeda’s association with Toda lasted only 10 years, he describes his mentorship by Toda as the defining experience of his life and the source of everything he has done and become.

In May 1960, two years after Toda’s death, Ikeda, then 32, succeeded him as president of the Soka Gakkai. In 1975, he became the founding president of the SGI, now a global network linking over 12 million members in some 190 countries and territories. Ikeda writes, “Everything depends on the people. That is why it is vital to forge a growing network that brings people of goodwill and conscience together.”

Ikeda has also founded a number of independent, nonprofit research institutes that promote peace through cross-cultural, interdisciplinary collaboration: the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century (renamed the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue in 2009), the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy. The Min-On Concert Association and

the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum promote mutual understanding and friendship between different cultures through the arts.

It was in the 1960s that Ikeda began also to work toward the founding of a school system based on first Soka Gakkai President Makiguchi’s educational theories. This was a dream that both Makiguchi and Toda had cherished. In 1968, Ikeda realized the vision with the founding of Tokyo Junior and Senior High Schools. The schools were not simply a monument to his predecessors. Their establishment was the first major step in an ongoing endeavor to develop a humanistic educational system, one that Ikeda has described as the culminating undertaking of his life. The schools’ establishment was followed in 1971 by the establishment of Soka University, and in subsequent years by a string of other educational institutions around Japan and abroad. These schools are open to all students and have no religious instruction. Ikeda writes: “My determination was to build these schools up into centers of learning consecrated to the goal of peace, working with educators throughout the world.”

Ikeda is a strong proponent of dialogue as the foundation of peace. Since the 1970s, he has pursued dialogue with individuals from diverse backgrounds—prominent figures from around the world in the humanities, politics, faith traditions, culture, education and various academic fields—in order to discover common ground and identify ways of tackling the complex problems facing humanity. Over 70 of these have been published in book form. Dialogue and the promotion of cultural exchange have also been at the basis of his efforts to build trust and foster friendship in contexts of historical division and conflict.

The central tenet of Ikeda’s thought, grounded in Buddhist humanism, is the fundamental dignity of life, a value he sees as the key to lasting peace and human happiness. In his view, global peace relies ultimately on a self-directed transformation within the life of the individual, rather than on societal or structural reforms alone.

This conviction is expressed most succinctly in the preface of The Human Revolution, Ikeda’s novelization of the Soka Gakkai’s history and ideals: “A great inner revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, will enable a change in the destiny of all humankind.”

Ikeda is a prolific writer who has published more than 240 works, ranging from commentaries on Buddhism to biographical essays, poetry and children’s stories. He has two sons, Hiromasa and Takahiro, and lives with his wife, Kaneko, in Tokyo.

Rolihlahla Mandela was born in the Madiba clan, the village of Mvezo, on the Eastern Cape, July 18, 1918. Hearing the elders’ stories of his ancestors’ valour during the wars of resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

Nelson completed his BA through the University of South Africa and went to the University College of Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943. Meanwhile, he began studying for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand. By his own admission he was a poor student and left the university in 1952 without graduating. He only started studying again through the University of London after his imprisonment in 1962 but also did not complete that degree. In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town.

Mandela, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944, when he helped to form the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). Mandela rose through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its efforts, the ANC adopted a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action, in 1949.

On March 21, 1960, police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest in Sharpeville against the pass laws. This led to the country’s first state of emergency, the banning of the ANC, and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) April 8th. Mandela and his colleagues in the Treason Trial were among thousands detained during the state of emergency. During the trial Mandela married a social worker, Winnie Madikizela, on June 14, 1958. They had two daughters, Zenani and Zindziswa. The couple divorced in 1996. After he and his colleagues were acquitted in the Treason Trial, Mandela went underground and began planning a national strike for 29, 30, and 31 March.

On January 11, 1962, using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Mandela secretly left South Africa and was arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick and charged with leaving the country without a permit and inciting workers to strike. He was convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, which he began serving at the Pretoria Local Prison. While facing the death penalty his words to the court at the end of his famous “Speech from the Dock” on April 20, 1964 became immortalized.

On June 11, 1964, Mandela and seven other accused were convicted, and the next day were sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela’s mother died in 1968 and his eldest son, Thembi, in 1969. He was not allowed to attend their funerals.

He was released Sunday 11 February 1990, by South African President F.W. de Klerk, nine days after the unbanning of the ANC and the PAC and nearly four months after the release of his remaining Rivonia comrades. Throughout his imprisonment he had rejected at least three conditional offers of release.

Mandela immersed himself in official talks to end white minority rule and in 1991 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend, Oliver Tambo. In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 1994 he voted for the first time in his life.

On May 10, 1994, he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically elected President. On his 80th birthday in 1998 he married Graça Machel, his third wife.

True to his promise, Mandela stepped down in 1999 after one term as President. He continued to work with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund he set up in 1995, and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation in 2003.

Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His life is an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived; and to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation. He died at his home in Johannesburg on December 5, 2013, at the age of 95.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

objectives of the GANDHI  KING  IKEDA  MANDELA INSTITUTE for cosmopolitan virtue - ethics and reconciliation

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has bequeathed us a roadmap that has been tested and proven workable within and between nation states. Our American Moses, Martin Luther King Jr., has employed the roadmap in a fashion that further confirms the reliability of the Gandhian bequest to the world. The Gandhian nonviolent method was user friendly in the South African crisis effectively addressed by Nelson Mandela’s government to end the more than fifty years of apartheid oppression. Daisaku Ikeda has effectively used Gandhian and Kingian nonviolent methods to democratize and internationalize the imperialistic military state of Japan since 1960. The most convincing sanctions for the effective use of nonviolent approaches to conflict resolution are seen in the diplomacy of the United Nations, and the state departments of all nations. The nonviolent diplomatic philosophies have been demonstrated by many world leaders such as Mother Teresa, Jesse Jackson, Pope John Paul II, Jimmy Carter, Mary McLeod Bethune, Baclav Havel, Johnnie Coleman, Marian Wright Edelman, Chief Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, and Han Park.

1

TO SERVE as a conference and multicultural institute, a place to organize international and community based forums within and sponsored by the Martin Luther King Ir. International Chapel, and to discuss a variety of perspectives affecting our common humanity. These could include such issues as community disintegration, denominationalism, enslavement, environmental injustice, ethnic

cleansing, hate crimes, healing, inadequate schools, poverty, privileged markets, racism, school violence, the unity of science and religion, sexism, societal fragmentation, spirituality, terrorism, unemployment, unequal access to higher education, war, the prison industrial complex, and xenophobia. A large variety of groups crossing all cultural, economical, educational, gender, lifestyle, national, racial, and religious boundaries will discover new bases for the common ground between us. This Institute will inspire a more profound sense of domestic and international civility and humanity, helping us to appreciate

that we are geographically one and are becoming spiritually one. Such diplomacy is reachable as a noble end of reconciling diversity toward which we should strive.

2

TO MAKE KNOWN the life, work, and philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr., Howard Thurman, Benjamin Mays, Floyd McKissick, Samuel Woodrow Williams, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, George Kelsey, William Jefferson White, Charles T. Walker, Charles Radford Lawrence, James Madison Nabrit, and with Mohandas K. Gandhi as the greatest world leader of the Twentieth Century, and

Daisaku Ikeda as the contemporary embodiment of the philosophy of nonviolence institutionalized internationally.

3

TO HONOR Kasturbai Gandhi for her singular, unsung contribution of role modeling and tutoring her husband in the practice of nonviolence. This will inaugurate a tradition of honoring women whom The Mahatma felt had a natural predisposition to providing nonviolent leadership.

4

TO EXPLORE possibilities of exchanging visiting scholars and students from India and other countries who are experts on and interested in the application of philosophies of nonviolence internationally.

5TO BE A CONDUIT for partnerships and coordinated efforts of domestic and international organizations dedicated to reconciliation work. Some of these partners will be the Carter Center, the Peace Corps, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Soka Gakki International (Buddhist), the Atlanta Masjid of Al Islam, Science and Spirit Magazine, Holistic Health Magazine, the Morehouse Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership, the India Council of Cultural Relations (New Delhi), the Gandhi Hamer King Center (Denver), UNESCO, Operations Crossroads

Africa, the American Friends Services Committee, the Highlander Institute, the George Mason Institute for Conflict Resolution, the Southern Poverty Law Institute, Oxfam America, the Synthesis Dialogues, Council for the Parliament of World Religions, Association for Global New Thought, the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Foundation, the Knotted Gun Project, and the Indian American Culture Association of Atlanta, and the Tikkun Community.

6 TO ASSIST in the fulfillment of Resolution GA/9500, unanimously adopted by the 55th plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, November 10, 1998. The resolution called for the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World (2001-2010), with the year 2000 being a year of education. This includes the inauguration of “A Season of Nonviolence” annually, (January 30 - April 4), a period between the assassination dates of Gandhi and King, respectively.

7TO OFFER consultancy and guidance to institutions and individuals engaged in the study and research of nonviolence for problem solving. We would actively promote the introduction of foundation courses on Gandhian, Kingian, and lkedian philosophies in educational institutions, and facilitate a shift in the attitude of the print and electronic media towards rooting out the culture of violence by generative and creative kinds of nonviolence.

8 TO UNDERTAKE the production and distribution of literature on nonviolence, peace, Gandhi-King-IkedaMandela studies, comparative religion, tolerance, appreciation of differences, and diversity-maturity.

9TO DEVELOP a network of individuals and institutions engaged in the task of peace and justice education, conflict transformation, peace, and justice promotion activities.

10 TO DEVISE suitable formats and programs to bring the arts, particularly performing arts/ dramaturge-in-residence, in peace and justice promotion. We will also seek to develop a comprehensive web page on Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Daisaku Ikeda and Nelson Mandela.

We propose to utilize The GandhiKing-Ikeda-Mandela Institute for Cosmopolitan Virtue-Ethics and Reconciliation as an institutionalized forum linking practice, knowledge, and service. Our goal is to help develop thoughtful servant-scholar leaders who think and act differently about problems of oppression and insensitivity which tend to be examined within narrow contexts with little attention paid to their complex and often paradoxical generalities around the world. This program emphasis would further assist the dean of the Chapel and the other College offices in the theological and intellectual exploration of vocation with the future ordained and lay leadership.

Front

2001

HRH Prince

El Hassan bin Talal Prince of Jordan; President, The Club of Rome

2002

Dr. Michael Nobel Chairman, Nobel Family Society; Chairman, The Nonviolence Project

2004

Chief Albert John Luthuli (posthumous) Former President, African National Congress; Recipient, Nobel Peace Prize, 1960

2001

Mr. Nelson R. Mandela

Former President, Republic of South Africa; Former President, African National Congress; Co-recipient, Nobel Peace Prize, 1993

2003

Ms. Betty Williams

Peace Worker, Founder and President, World Centers of Compassion for Children; Co-recipient, Nobel Peace Prize, 1977

2005

Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor, Tikkun Magazine; Founder & National Co-Chair, The Tikkun Community; Rabbi Beyt Tikkun

2001

Mr. Mikhail S. Gorbachev

Former President, the Soviet Union; President, The Gorbachev Foundation; President, Green Cross International; Recipient, Nobel Peace Prize, 1990

2004

Mr. F. W. De Klerk

Former President, Republic of South Africa; Co-recipient, Nobel Peace Prize, 1993

2005

Mr. John Hume Architect of Northern Ireland Peace Settlement; Founder, Social Democratic and Labour Party; Co-recipient, Nobel Peace Prize, 1994

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town; Recipient, Nobel Peace Prize, 1984 2006

Mrs. Coretta Scott King

First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement; Founder, The Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change

2010

Dr. Han Shik Park

University Professor oflnternational Affairs; Director, Center for the Study of Global Issues; (GLOBIS) University of Georgia; Architect of U.S.-North Korean Relations

2013

His Holiness

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Founder, Art of Living Foundation, International Association for Human Values

2011 Co-recipient

The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery

Dean of the American Civil Rights Movement; Co-founder and President Emeritus, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

2014

Dr. Karen Armstrong

Mr. Yitzhak Rabin (posthumous)

Former Prime Minister, State of lsrael; Architect, Oslo Accords; Co-recipient, Nobel Peace Prize, 1994

2011 Co-recipient

Mrs. Evelyn Gibson Lowery

Pioneer, American Civil Rights Movement; Founder, SCLC/W.O.M.E.N., Inc. (Women’s Organizational Movement for Equality Now)

Founder, Charter for Compassion; Leading Historian of World Religion; Thinker and Bestselling Author 2015

Amb. Anwarul K. Chowdhury

Former Under-Secretary-General of the U.N. and Ambassador of Bangladesh to UN; Founder of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace

Dr. Johan Galtung

Father of International Peace and Conflict Studies; Founder, Galtung-lnstitute for Peace Theory and Peace Practice; Founder, TRANSCEND International 2017

Dr. Kai Frithjof Brand-Jacobsen Director, Department of Peace Operations (DPO) - PATRIR

Brother James Gaffney, FSC President Emeritus, Lewis University; Honorary Founder, Lewis University 2022

Dr. Neelakanta Radhakrishnan Chair, Gandhi Peace Mission 2019

2021

Dr. Robert Cummings Neville Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology , Dean, 1988-2003, Boston University

The Rev. James Morris Lawson Jr. Activist, Professor, and Former Pastor of Holman UMC 2023

Russell Marion Nelson Sr. President, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

biography

Gary Dorrien teaches social ethics, theology, and philosophy of religion as the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University. He was previously the Parfet Distinguished Professor at Kalamazoo College, where he taught for 18 years and also served as Dean of Stetson Chapel and Director of the Liberal Arts Colloquium. Professor Dorrien is the author of 24 books and more than 300 articles that range across the fields of social ethics, philosophy, theology, political economics, social and political theory, religious history, cultural criticism, and intellectual history.

Social critic Michael Eric Dyson wrote in 2021: “Gary Dorrien is the greatest theological ethicist of the twenty-first century, our most compelling political theologian, and one of the most gifted historians of ideas in the world.” Philosopher Cornel West describes Dorrien as “the preeminent social ethicist in North America today.” Philosopher Robert Neville calls him “the most rigorous theological historian of our time, moving from analyses of social context and personal struggles through the most abstruse theological and metaphysical issues.” Dorrien told an interviewer in 2016: “I am a jock who began as a solidarity activist, became an Episcopal cleric at thirty, became an academic at thirty-five, and never quite settled on a field, so now I explore the intersections of too many fields.”

Dorrien has won numerous awards for his publications including: the Choice Award of the American Library Association in 2018 for his book Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel; in 2017 Dorrien won the Grawemeyer Award for his book The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel; in 2012 the Association of American Publishers’ PROSE Award for his book Kantian Reason and Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology; the 2010 the Choice Award for his book Social Ethics in the Making, which The Christian Century characterized as “magnificent, sprawling, monumental, captivating, expertly written, and exhaustively researched. Social Ethics in the Making will soon be recognized as a classic.”

More than 50 reviewers described Dorrien’s trilogy, The Making of American Liberal Theology, as definitive. Modern Intellectual

History said it set a new standard for religious intellectual history.

Dorrien has written about economic democracy and social justice politics, post-Kantian philosophy, and modern theology throughout his career. Three of Dorrien’s books on social justice topics derive from his lecturing at universities, conferences, civic groups, and religious communities. Economy, Difference, Empire: Social Ethics for Social Justice (2010) features his lectures on economic democracy, racial and gender justice, and anti-imperial politics. The Obama Question: A Progressive Perspective (2012) draws upon lectures he delivered during President Obama’s first term.

Dorrien has recently authored two major works on democratic socialism, Social Democracy in the Making: Political and Religious Roots of European Socialism (2019), and American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory (2021), both published by Yale University Press.

The third and concluding volume of Dorrien’s history of the Black social gospel tradition trilogy, that includes The New Abolition: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel and Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel, was published by Yale University Press in 2023 under the title A Darkly Radiant Vision: The Black Social Gospel in the Shadow of MLK. Dorrien’s, most recent publication is a single-volume history of American theological liberalism titled The Spirit of American Liberal Theology and there is certainly more to come.

In recent years he has taught as the Horace De Y. Lentz Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School, the Paul E. Raither Distinguished Scholar at Trinity College, and Lowell Visiting Professor at Boston University School of Theology. Dorrien lectures frequently in Germany, England, and Canada, and writes for Cross Currents, American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, Tikkun, Christian Century, Telos, Commonweal and other journals. His wife, Brenda Biggs, a Presbyterian minister, died of cancer in 2000; his partner Eris McClure is a fitness trainer; and his daughter Sara Biggs Dorrien-Christians and son-in-law William Christians are Presbyterian pastors in Memphis, Tennessee.

2024 COMMUNITY BUILDER’S PRIZE RECIPIENT

Wanjira Mathai biography

Wanjira Mathai is the Managing Director for Africa and Global Partnerships at the World Resources Institute (WRI) based in Nairobi, Kenya. In this capacity, Mathi convinced the Kenyan Environment Minister to commit to restoring 12.8 million acres of deforested land toward the goal of 100 million hectares (just over 247 million acres) in Kenya by 2030; an effort that supports UN Sustainable Development goals.

She formerly served as VP & Regional Director for Africa, Co-chair of WRI’s Global Restoration Council and a Senior Advisor to the Global Restoration Initiative. She is also the current Chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and the former Chair of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.

Wanjira was born and raised in Kenya, and her mother who was a significant influence, Wangari Maathi, was a social, environmental, and political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. After completing high school in Nairobi, Wanjira moved to New York to attend Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where she majored in biology. She received a master’s degree in public health and in business administration from Emory University. After graduating, Mathai worked on disease control with the Carter Center where she broadened her understanding of diseases that impacted African communities.

An inspiring leader, Wanjira has over 20 years of experience advocating for social and environmental change on both local and international platforms. Over the years, she has also served

important strategic and advocacy roles raising the prominence and visibility of global issues such as climate change, youth leadership, sustainable energy, and landscape restoration at Women Entrepreneurs in Renewables (wPOWER), the Wangari Maathai Foundation (WMF), and the Green Belt Movement (GBM) the organization her mother, Wangari founded in 1977.

Wanjira’s engagement with the UN Sustainable Development Goals inspires taking on global issues including deforestation and energy access including her campaign to plant more than 30 million trees through her work at the Green Belt Movement. Educating youth as a motivational speaker on leadership, environment, and climate change, Wanjira seeks to empower their growth as future leaders through peace-building and decreasing corruption in Kenya.

An indefatigable activist, Wanjira currently serves on the Board of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), as a Leadership Council member of the Clean Cooking Alliance and a member of the High-Level Group of the Africa-Europe Foundation. She is one of a few Six Seconds EQ Practitioners in Kenya and was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Women in 2018, 2020 and 2021. Additionally, the African Leadership University named her among the Top Influential African Women. In April 2023, Time magazine named Wanjira as one of the top 100 most influential people of 2023. In November 2023, she was also named to the BBC’s 100 Women list. A fully committed advocate for youth, women and the environment, Wanjira states that “I am not living in my mother’s shadow, I am basking in her light.”

These Gary Dorrien books will be on sale immediately preceding the Nonviolent Cosmic WorldHouse Assembly in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel lobby.

GARY DORRIEN BOOKS for SALE

The third and concluding volume of Dorrien’s history of the Black social gospel traditiontrilogy, that includes The New Abolition: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel and Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel, was published by Yale University Press in 2023 under the title A Darkly Radiant Vision: The Black Social Gospel in the Shadow of MLK

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”

Nelson Mandela

Nonvoilent Cosmic WorldHouse Assembly

The Reverend Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., Presiding

Dean of the Chapel, Professor of Religion, and Director, Gandhi•King•Ikeda•Mandela Institute for Cosmopolitan Virtue-Ethics and Reconciliation

[]

processional

prelude

call to a ssemble

the occasion

Worldhouse a ssembly a nthem

“Trumpet Tune”

“Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee”

Ode to Joy, Ludwig Van Beethoven Setting by Joel Raney

Dr. David Francis Oliver Morehouse College Organist

Dr. Marva G. Carter and Pastor Clariece Paulk

The Reverend Dean Carter Sr.

Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith Founder and CEO, Agape International Spiritual Center, Beverly Hills, CA

video presentations

the tabernacle choir at temple square

presentation

presentation

“ spill the honey ” a nthem

video presentations

theme song

Dr. Robert C. Davidson

Dr. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II

Dr. Clarence B. Jones

postlude

“I Ain’t Got Weary Yet” Arr. Courtney Carey

Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope

“Come, Come Ye Saints” arr. Mack Wilberg

Wanjira Mathai

(Award Received by Wandia Mbuvi)

Gandhi • King • Ikeda Community Builder’s Prize Recipient

Dr. Gary John Dorrien

Gandhi • King • Mandela Peace Prize

“No More Silence”

Arr. Ms. Mali Wilson, Mr. Craig Snider, and Dr. Shari Rogers

Against Antisemitism, Islamophobia & Racism

“Peace On Earth” Rachelle Ferrell

Morehouse College Glee Club

Dr. Harry E. Johnson Sr. 31st President, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Dr. J. Willard “Bill” Marriott Jr.

Mrs. Debbie Marriott Harrison Director, Board of Marriott International

Dr. Mark Wilberg Music Director

Dr. David Anthony Thomas 12th President, Morehouse College

The Reverend Dean Carter

Dr. David Thomas

Dean Carter

Dr. Eboni Marshall Turman

Ms. Mali Wilson, Soloist

Mr. Craig Snider, Pianist

Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence Executive Director, Spill the Honey Foundation

Ms. Chanda Leigh Adeogda , Soloist

the i nternational h all of honor portrait i nductions

Dr. Alfred Daniel Williams King

Dr. Naomi Ruth Barbara King

Bishop Carlton Pearson

“Then Shall the Trumpet Sound”

“Rigaudon”

Arr. Andre Campra

Dr. David Edward Morrow ’80

Professor, Chair of the Music Department, Director of the Glee Club

Dr. David Francis Oliver College Organist

Rabbi Jacob Rothschild

Dr. Timothy W. Sloan

Dr. Richard Lewis Taylor

Dr. Oliver

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. INTERNATIONAL CHAPEL

CHAPEL ASSISTANTS

For 44 years, one of the signature initiatives of the Chapel has been The Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel Assistants program. This student organization is open to all who seek to be stretched and strengthened in their faith, engaged in dialogue and action on issues of social justice and human rights, and oriented to the diversity of spiritual perspectives that comprise our Great “World House” concept for wholeness and healing. The Chapel Assistants Program is open to students of all majors and career interests; however, a particular focus is given to those who are discerning vocational callings in lay or ordained ministry and scholarship in the theological academy. The Chapel Assistants Program offers a host of rich experiences and opportunities including: Thurman Thursdays each week at 5:30 p.m. in the Chapel Library; Sermon Talkback Sessions following each Sunday Vesper service; Monthly Sandy F. Ray Preaching Laboratory Sessions; participation in the Festival of Young Preachers; Interfaith Immersion Weekends and Pilgrimages; Ministry in the Arts; Seminary Swing Tours; and, summer internship placements.

Programs & Opportunities for Becoming Ambassadors of Cosmic Peace by Embodying King’s World House Values:

thurman thursdays

Thursdays | 5:30 p.m.

Join the chapel assistants each Thursday for dynamic theological table talks on issues ranging from politics to religion, ethical formation, vocational discernment, leadership development, interfaith engagement and church administration.

sunday vespers

Sundays | 5:30 p.m.

Each Sunday during the semester, join the chapel assistants, the King Chapel Gospel Choir (KCGC) and other Atlanta University Center students, staff and faculty for worship. Preachers include alumni clergy, special guests and select chapel assistants who have preached in the Sandy F. Ray Preaching Lab and or at the Academy of Preachers.

worldhouse academy

The WorldHouse Academy seeks to “deepen the faith of young people by helping them think theologically about their lives as well as the challenges faced by our global community” and “to identify and cultivate a cadre of theologically minded youth who will become leaders in church

and society.”’ The WorldHouse Academy, a youth theological institute that will develop the capacity of high school youth to comparatively and substantively engage the texts. traditions, commitments and histories of the religious communities of their formation; employ critical tools to conduct theological and ethical analysis of current events and the world around them; examine various models of religious vocation and professional theological engagement and, prepare to successfully matriculate as an undergraduate student in a liberal arts institution, particularly Morehouse College and other historically black colleges and universities, with a commitment to robust interdisciplinary preparation for graduate and professional education, hopefully leading to theological and religious vocations.

interfaith assembly

The Gandhi. King, Ikeda Institute for Cosmopolitan Virtue Ethics and Reconciliation at Morehouse College hosts the annual WorldHouse Interfaith Assembly, a supportive and tangible expression of the global movement for peace and nonviolence through the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. We model and teach activism. Nonviolence, optimism and populism in the spirit of Mohandas Karamchand “Mahatma” Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. ’48 and Daisaku lkeda promoting a holistic vision for the growth, health, safety and wellbeing of our beloved evolving world cosmos. Our vision is the creation tit a cosmopolitan society in which the full development of everyone’s potential is the central goal.

the howard thurman spiritual and educational trust

Transferred from the Howard Thurman educational Trust (HTET) formed in 1961 in San Francisco. California to Morehouse College in 2009. The HTET was renamed the I-Ioward Thurman Spiritual Educational Trust for Nonviolent Global Conflict Resolution in October 2018. The Trust was established for religious, charitable, scientific, literary. or educational purposes or for the presentation of cruelty to children or animals. Primary activities of the Trust are lo support student educational. international and cultural programs. The Howard Thurman Crown Forum is hosted by the Chapel annually in November as close as possible to the birthdate of Dr. Thurman, November 18, 1899.

the howard thurman honors program

The Morehouse College Honors Program was renamed the Howard Thurman Honors Program in 2019. The Thurman Honors Program is a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council. an international community of educational institutions. professionals. and students who are passionate about advancing honors education in diverse settings yielding a global perspective and a unified voice in support of honors in the classroom and around the campus. A member of the Morehouse Class of 1923, Howard Washington

Thurman remains one of the College‘s most prolific scholars and academicians.

sandy f. ray preaching lab

Are you looking to hone your preaching skills?

As “iron sharpens iron,” the Sandy F. Ray Preaching Lab offers chapel assistants the opportunity to deliver a sermon throughout the year for advice and constructive criticism from peers and seasoned homileticians.

festival of young preachers and the academy of preachers (Fall Semester Annually)

Each fall, chapel assistants and other aspiring preachers sign up and participate in the annual festival. Participants receive coaching and review of their sermon manuscripts in preparation for a select group to participate in the National Festival of Young Preachers sponsored by the Academy of Preachers.

ministry in the arts

The Chapel offers talented men and women the opportunity to lend their voices, talents and gifts in worship through spoken word, dance, vocal and instrumental presentations, drama and visual arts.

seminary swing

The Chapel Assistants program holds a longstanding tradition of preparing its members for theological education on the graduate level. This preparation is due in part to the annual Seminary Swing trip which offers chapel assistants the opportunity to experience student life at schools such as Harvard Divinity School, Yale Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary, University of Chicago, Boston University, Duke University, Southern Methodist University, and Vanderbilt University.

summer internships

The Chapel Assistants Summer Internship Program was established in 2013 as a pilot program of the “WorldHouse Initiative Realized.” The aim of the Chapel Assistants Summer Internship Program is to develop a formal structure for the historically informal and relational process of students identifying and securing summer ministerial internships in congregational contexts.

martin luther king jr . college of pastoral leadership

The College of Pastoral Leadership (CPL) builds on the Chapel’s 43-year, internationally recognized legacy of delivering ecumenical spiritual and vocational education to provide a year- long professional development program that advances the goal to nurture a new generation of highly talented and religiously committed leaders lor church and society. The CPL provides programming and mentoring to help early career pastors and students develop as 21st century moral cosmopolitan leaders.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. SCHOLARS

Renard Darnell Allen

Gerard A. Ancrum

Ernest Andrew Brooks III

Gabriel Denard Cloud

Delman Lamont Coates

Jawanza Karriem Colvin

Brandon Thomas Crowley

Devon Jerome Crawford

D’Marre Justin Lamar Craddock*

Brian Russel Davis

Julian Michael DeShazier

Willie Dwayne Francois III

Tiant D’Andre Holloway

JaParis Xavier Key

Brandon Lamar Jackson

Kevin Rae Miles Johnson

Hassan Xavier Henderson-Lott

Lester Agyei McCorn

Tyrone Emmanuel McGowan

David Malcolm McGruder

Rashad Raymond Moore

Echol Lee Nix Jr.

Donavan Jamal Pinner

*2023-2024 Scholarship Recipient

George Anthony Pratt

Winford Kennadean Rice

Joseph Carlos Robinson

Kevin Kitrell Ross

Samuel T. Ross-Lee

Willie J. Seals Jr.

Michael A. Walrond Jr.

Raphael Gamaliel Warnock

Tyler Micah Washington

Beryl Monroe Whipple

Demetrius M.T. Ziegler

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. INTERNATIONAL CHAPEL ASSISTANTS PROGRAM PRESIDENTS

Carl H. Lane ’81

Gregory George Groover Sr. ’83

Rufus Michael Mosby ’84

Phillip Cusic ’85

Steven Carson ’85

Timothy Alan Williams ’87

Anthony Lindberg Bennett ’88

Samuel Thomas Ross-Lee ’88

Raphael Gamaliel Warnock ’91

Amos Byron Coleman ’93

Micheal Anthony Walrond Jr. 93

Delman Lemont Coates ’95

DeQuincy Manvel Hentz ’96

Jawanza Karriem Colvin ’97

Russel Erich Caufield ’98

Kevin Nelson ’98 (CAU)

Heather L. Johnson ’99 (SC)

Nicholas Scott Turner ’00

Demetrius Melic Zeilger ’03

Vincent Malowry Jones, Jr.’04

Gregory David Jackson ’05

Charles Benjamin Houston ’06

Renard Darnell Allen Jr. ’07

Willie Dwayne Francois III ’09

Tyrone Emmanuel McGowan Jr. ‘10

Rashad Raymond Moore ’12

*Current President

Reginald Wayne Sharpe, Jr. ’13

Winford Kennedean Rice ’14

Devon Jerome Crawford ’15

Christopher Anthony McCroy ’16

Ja’Paris Xavier Key ’17

Tiant D’Andre Holloway ’18

Timothy Michael Browning ’19

Spencer Alexandria Nabors ’C20 (SC)

Donavan Jamal Pinner ’20 ”20

Gabriel Dennard Cloud ’21

Tyler Micah Washington ’23

Elijiah Jahaad Tivon Waller ’24*

To develop transforming nonviolent ambassadors of peace to reveal and co-create the “Beloved World Economic Community” as a reflection or mirror of the social justice of Jesus.

IMPACT

43 years of growth and expansion; 1500+ program participants

THE GREAT WORLDHOUSE

Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel

The Reverend William Jefferson White ’11, D.D. (Hon.) Founder of Morehouse College

Willie Edward Woods ’85, M.B.A. Chairman, Board of Trustees

Delman L. Coates ’95, Ph.D. Chairman, Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel Trustee Committee

David Anthony Thomas, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.Phil. Twelfth President of Morehouse College

The Reverend Robert Michael Franklin Jr. ’75, Ph.D., D.D., D.H.L. President Emeritus

Walter Eugene Massey ’58, Ph.D., D.S., D.Hum., Ed.D., D.H.C., Mult. President Emeritus

Leroy Keith Jr. ’61, Ph.D. President Emeritus

Hugh Morris Gloster Sr. ’31, Ph.D., Ll.D., D.H.L., Litt.D., D.H.C., Mult. President Emeritus and Founder of the King Chapel

The Reverend Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., 33° Ph.D., D.D., D.H., D.R.S, D.H.C., Mult.

Dean of the Chapel, Professor of Religion, College Archivist, and Curator

The Reverend Terry Farrell Walker Sr. ’89, M.Div. Director, Chapel Relations

Mrs. Kimberly Gaines Wigley Executive Assistant to the Dean

The Reverend Devon Jerome Crawford ’15, M.Div. Associate Campus Minister

Joseph Vann Jones ’19, M.Div. Candidate MLK Jr. International Chapel Intern

Guy Edward Mitchell Audio/Visual Technology Support

David Francis Oliver, D.M.A. College Organist

The Reverend Donna Eugenia Walker C’1994, D.Min. African Dance Consultant and Chapel Volunteer

Marva Griffin Carter, Ph.D. Music Consultant and Pianist

The Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel Trustee Committee Members

Willie E. Woods ’85 Chairman (Ex Officio)

David A. Thomas (Ex Officio)

Richard Thaler Jr.

Delman L. Coates ’95 Chair

Otis Moss III ’92

Charles David Moody Jr. ’78

Harold V. Bennett

Lawrence Edward Carter Sr.

Terry F. Walker Sr. ’89

m artin luther k ing jr . international chapel a ssistants e xecutive board 2023-24

Elijiah Jahaad Waller ’24 38th President

Jah’Karious Nkosi Conley ’25 Vice President

Caleb Isaiah Cage ’25 General Secretary

Sarah Alise Williams C ’2025 Treasurer

Calvin Roosevelt Bell ’24 Historian

Aylon De’on Gipson ’24 Parliamentarian

Andarious Marshawn James Porter ’24 Chief of Staff

Johnny Simmons ’26 Deacon Board Chair

Raquan Taheer Clemmons ’26 Outreach & Evangelism Co-Chair

Rebekka Marie Henry C’2025 Outreach & Evangelism Co-Chair

Anthony Mitchell ’24 Outreach & Evangelism, CAU Liaison

Gregory Charles Brown ’24 Scholarship & Practical Ministry Chair

Jaylon Thomas Simmons ’26 Worship & Liturgical Arts Chair

Emmanuel Japhon Dean ’24 Interfaith Chair

Trey Allan Washington ’24 Hospitality Chair

Kameron Elijah Motley ’27 Public Relations & Digital Media Chair

SUPPORT THE

CHAIRISHING CAMPAIGN

The Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel is a cosmic treasure that serves as the world’s most prominent religious memorial dedicated to the life, legacy, and Black social gospel justice tradition of its iconic namesake, Martin Luther King Jr. It is a beacon for global change and an incubator for innovative ideas that advance civil human rights ethics.

For those who dream of a beloved world economic community, nonviolent social change, personal and inclusive transformation, peace, and justice, the King Chapel at Morehouse College offers a scholastic and spiritual home for the study of King and his philosophy.

The internationally acclaimed Dean of the King Chapel, the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., has spent the past four decades building the world house memorial into a global ministry that promotes excellence, ethics, equality, and engagement, while encouraging and inspiring ambassadors of peace, unity, and harmony to carry King’s work and commitment to human dignity by saving democracy for all.

Share in preserving the King Chapel at Morehouse College by purchasing a chair today.

A $1,500 gift will enable you to buy a new tuxedo seat with an engraved plaque that will be on display in the historic venue that has hosted lectures by world dignitaries, scholars, theologians, celebrities, and newsmakers. Highlight your own name on a chair or honor the memory of a loved one.

From hosting 2,200 students for weekly community meetings to thousands of parents who entrust their beloved sons to the College each fall—and tens of thousands of visitors who snap photos of the King Statue on the International Plaza throughout the year—King Chapel is the living room in which Morehouse College welcomes world leaders of consequence.

In the sacred hush of The Crown Nave, the walls have countless tales to tell from ministers and leaders of diverse faiths and nationalities— people who share a common love for human kind and respect for people of all racial, economic, and gender identities. Their images have been captured in over 200 oil portraits that pay tribute to their journeys as humble servant scholar-leaders who became solidarity rights champions. Like King, they dedicated their lives to making the world a better place for saving and spreading democracy.

An investment in preserving King Chapel, our global treasure at Morehouse, is an investment in the ideals, values, vision, and courage of emerging servant scholar-leaders, who, in ways small and grand, will carry on King’s legacy and fulfill his dream.

Visit giving.morehouse.edu to Commit to Purchasing a Chair for $1,500.*

* Morehouse College employees can purchase chairs for $1,000 for a limited time.

After You Make Your Gift, Scan the QR Code and Add Your Name to Morehouse History.

BALCONY

MAKING MEN OF CONSEQUENCE

THE CAMPAIGN FOR MOREHOUSE COLLEGE

For more than 156 years, Morehouse College has been at the forefront of transformational change, developing enterprising Black men who use their influence and intellect to improve society. Our success in producing trailblazers is rooted in our mission to develop exceptional men with disciplined minds for lives of leadership and service. This philosophy compels Morehouse to set high expectations for every student we admit, to nurture their potential, and to propel them on the path to academic excellence and career success.

The proven result of this journey of self-exploration and development is the Morehouse Man. And it is no coincidence that you will find Morehouse Men in leadership in every industry, from politics and business to tech and the arts. We set the expectation for excellence the moment our scholars arrive on the Morehouse campus.

The Pillars of the Campaign are as follows:

RISING MEN OF MOREHOUSE

Ensure a Morehouse education is affordable and accessible to the best and brightest scholars from around the world.

INQUIRY WITH DISTINCTION

Recruit and retain exceptional faculty who are at the top of their fields and will advance our teaching and research.

With more investment, as the top producer of Black male excellence at scale, Morehouse could have an even greater impact in higher education. We need your help as we build the College of the future and expand our reach globally as a higher education icon and thought leader on issues of social justice, race, culture, equity, and inclusion.

Now is the time for Morehouse to step forward in a bold way. Morehouse can become the nation’s top liberal arts college with your support.

Morehouse has launched a historic $500 million fundraising campaign, Making Men of Consequence: The Campaign for Morehouse College, and identified four pillars of success. The Making Men of Consequence Campaign will run for five years, concluding in June 2026.

CAMPUS OF THE FUTURE

Modernize our physical and virtual campus to promote learning, foster community, and prepare students for the global age.

SUPPORTING THE CAMPAIGN FOR MOREHOUSE COLLEGE

CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE

Join the global community in addressing the world’s biggest problems.

Why the Morehouse College “Making Men of Consequence” Campaign Matters

The Campaign for Morehouse is about making strategic investments in Morehouse College’s future as the institution offers its academic programs and thought leadership to new audiences beyond the campus’ borders. Our fundraising priorities are grounded in the College’s imperatives to:

• Enhance the Student Experience

• Enrich Community, Economic, and Family Life

• Expand International Reach

• Increase Research Opportunities

• Strengthen Stewardship

• Advance Our Culture of High Performance

Morehouse educates 2,300 students annually. Approximately 60% of rising Morehouse Men come from families with a household income of $40,000 or less. More than 80% of Morehouse scholars take out federal loans to pay

for their education. Their families also tend to invest in their Morehouse education, which drains family finances. Black households have the highest rate of unemployment and the lowest median net worth, lagging behind Asian, white, and Latin American families. Taking on student loan debt further exacerbates the wealth gap between Blacks and other racial groups.

Morehouse College is working toward a future in which our endowment will allow the financial flexibility to support all deserving scholars, and the scholarships we offer students will be need blind. As more alumni and friends become involved in this goal, Morehouse will ensure that every qualified student—regardless of his finances—can afford a Morehouse education.

For more information on the Making Men of Consequence Campaign, visit impact.morehouse.edu/campaign

To make your gift: giving.morehouse.edu

See the Victory Before Us and Walk On!

Words by Dr. Uzee Brown Jr. ’72

1 Here we stand, surrogate voices— of those who have been silenced— by tragedy, indifference and time. We stand amidst a world where deception freely roams, And integrity and truth are held as crime.

Refrain:

Yet reverently we stand the heirs of this great land, and lift our voices high with cheerful song!

Walk on by faith, walk on with hope, with renewed determination to press on sing praise to the God of all creation, the hope of every nation see the victory before us and walk on!

2 Here we stand, bearing witness, to nature’s aberrations. Where disasters, unpredictable plague the near and distant lands. Oblivious to change, so many fail to heed—foreboding signs the universe commands.

Refrain:

Yet reverently we stand the heirs of this great land, and lift our voices high with cheerful song!

Walk on by faith, walk on with hope, with renewed determination to press on sing praise to the God of all creation, the hope of every nation see the victory before us and walk on!

3 Here we stand, champions of freedom, where courageous voices cry out, and fight for justice every day. We have thrived amidst the threats that democracy may fail, as we face new jolts and struggles on the way.

Refrain:

Yet reverently we stand the heirs of this great land, and lift our voices high with cheerful song!

Walk on by faith, walk on with hope, with renewed determination to press on sing praise to the God of all creation, the hope of every nation see the victory before us and walk on!

See the victory before us and walk on! Yes, just walk on!

Dear Old Morehouse

Dear old Morehouse, dear old Morehouse, We have pledged our lives to thee; And we’ll ever, yea forever, Give ourselves in loyalty.

True forever, true forever, To old Morehouse may we be; So to bind each son the other, Into ties more brotherly.

Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Make us steadfast, honest, true, To old Morehouse, and her ideals, And in all things that we do. J.O.B.

COVENANT is a cooperative partnership of the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast and the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College. Our work commemorates the rich history of African American and Jewish collaboration and mutual support. Our dialogue, events, and academic programs draw upon the legacies of African American, Jewish and Israeli leaders − Henrietta Szold, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Constance Baker Motley, Yitzhak Rabin, Samuel DuBois Cook, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ruth Bader Ginsburg − who have inspired generations of moral cosmopolitans devoted to the rigorous study and pursuit of peace and reconciliation.

Acknowledgments and Institutional Partners

Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historic Preservation Site

with the Morehouse College and Spelman College Glee Clubs