High school students from the Worldhouse Academy at Morehouse College visit

MANY YEARS AFTER THE ASSASSINATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., MOREHOUSE COLLEGE AND THE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. INTERNATIONAL CHAPEL CONTINUE TO SERVE AS THE INTERNATIONAL EPICENTER FOR A “WORLD HOUSE: CONNECTING THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY,” THAT BRINGS TOGETHER STUDENTS, SCHOLARS, AMBASSADORS AND ACTIVISTS TO PRESERVE AND REVITALIZE KING’S VISION OF THE “WORLD HOUSE.”

WORLDHOUSE ACADEMY

The Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel is a beacon for Morehouse College students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others who seek to realize King’s dream of the Beloved World Economic Community and Howard Thurman’s guidance on the religion of Jesus. Through their transformative, moral cosmopolitan programs, they teach these seekers King’s and Thurman’s evolutionary values of cosmopolitan spiritual ethics, nonviolence, service, and harmony, and encourage all to apply them in every aspect of their lives. Inspired by the possibility of the Beloved World Economic Community as the ethical meaning of the Presence of God, these seekers go forth as transforming nonviolent ambassadors of peace to reveal and co-create a sustainable world in which all people embody their spiritual magnificence by living unconditional love and responsibility with justice.

During the summer of 2019 the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College extended this dream to high school seekers from across the southeastern United States.

The Worldhouse Academy brought high students to Morehouse College to seek to realize King’s dream of the Beloved World Economic Community and to understand Howard Thurman’s guidance on the religion of Jesus. These students lived on campus for two weeks and attended classes, chapel services, and other engaging activities. Two of these students, Isaiah Thomas (son of the Mays Site director) and Jermarcus Brown, were from the home town of Dr. Benjamin E. Mays (Greenwood, SC). On Thursday, July 11, 2019, Dr. Lawrence Carter, Founding Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, and his staff, brought this group of high school students from the Worldhouse Academy at Morehouse College to the GLEAMNS Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historical Preservation Site to learn about the life and legacy of Dr. Benjamin E. Mays (a mentor to both Howard Thurman and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

SUSAN SARANDON, DANNY GLOVER, & SEN. NINA TURNER VISIT

ACTRESS SUSAN SARANDON, ACTOR DANNY GLOVER, AND OHIO STATE SENATOR NINA TURNER, VISITED THE GLEAMNS DR. BENJAMIN E. MAYS HISTORICAL PRESERVATION SITE ON FEBRUARY 15, 2020.

Turner was the national co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. The trio swung through Greenwood South Carolina just ahead of the Democratic primary slated for February 29, 2020. Working on the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, they were participating in a community meeting that Saturday evening at the Brewer Center, and decided to visit the Mays Site prior to this event. INITIALLY SCHEDULED FOR A BRIEF THIRTY MINUTE VISIT, THE THREE WERE SMITTEN BY THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF DR. MAYS, AND THE HISTORICAL PRESERVATION SITE THAT BEARS HIS NAME,

their stay extended beyond an hourand-fifteen-minutes before aids and staffers hurried them away from the Site. The GLEAMNS Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historical Preservation Site and Greenwood received a Hollywood-styled visit that Saturday. HOLLYWOOD VISITORS

Glover and Sarandon were moved while listening to historical site Director Chris Thomas talk about the life of Mays. From left, Chris Thomas, director of the Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historic Preservation Site, Ohio state Senator Nina Turner, and actors Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover stand with the statue of of Dr. Mays

Loy Sartin, former director of the Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historic Preservation Site, with actress Susan Sarandon.

Actors Danny Glover and Susan Sarandon pause to take in the information about Dr. Mays on the historical site marker