34 minute read
The Rebel and the Humble
Dr. Mays & Dr. Pinckney
This paper was prepared for use by GLEAMNS HRC/ Benjamin E. Mays Historic Preservation Site at the request of Loy Sartin, Curator Emeritus, and Christopher B. Thomas, Director, GLEAMNS HRC/Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historical Site
Advertisement
The Rebel and the Humble
by Kevin Clay Pinckney Grandson of Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney
This paper describes how Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays and Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney met in undergraduate school and remained friends for the rest of their lives. The paper chiefly proceeds along a chronological order. Unfortunately, the author had not met Dr. Mays, or if it happened, it was at an age where the author was under the age of ten. Additionally, the Pinckney family rarely discussed the relevance of the many people the Pinckneys knew and the many historical incidents occurring concurrently with the lives of the Pinckney family because the Pinckneys viewed those events as personal experiences and not public experiences. This includes the friendship Dr. Pinckney had with Dr. Mays, the man who mentored the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. Mays and Dr. Pinckney were friends. Their friendship was cherished, and their relationship was not put on display for public consumption. Therefore, the relevance of who they were and what they accomplished did not become apparent until the author explored Pinckney family history and genealogy. Fortunately, documentation exists. These documents are primarily correspondence between Dr. Mays and Dr. Pinckney. However, some correspondence included in this paper was between the doctors and their spouses, and between the doctors and family members of the doctors.
The pictures shown are the senior class pictures of Benjamin E. Mays, A.B. 1920 (left), and Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney, B.S. 1923 (right) from Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. At the GLEAMNS Benjamin E. Mays Historical Preservation Site, within the family house where Mays was born, are many pictures of prominent men and women who lived during the time young Mays would have lived in the home. This paper mentions two: President William McKinley and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Excerpts from those documents will be interwoven with the stories remembered, primarily in the later portion of this paper. Those stories are given a more worldly perspective specifically for those who tour the Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historic Preservation Site. It should help you become more familiar with who Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays was and who his lifelong friend, Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney, was. Thus, this paper attempts to show how the two men and their families maintained their friendship established from their time in undergraduate school which started one hundred years ago in 1920.
Benjamin Elijah Mays and Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney came from different backgrounds. The first time they met was in Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. But this author believes these two young men were each shaped by two different childhood events that involved their respective fathers. Events that would shape their lives.
This story will begin with the fathers of Benjamin and Theodore. Benjamin’s father was Hezekiah Mays. Theodore’s father was Henry Pinckney. Both Hezekiah and Henry were born in South Carolina. Both Hezekiah and Henry were less than ten years old in 1865 when the Civil War ended. However, they lived in different parts of South Carolina facing different challenges.
Benjamin E. Mays’s father, Hezekiah Mays, was born enslaved on Sunday, October 5, 1856, in South Carolina.1 Hezekiah Mays survived enslavement perhaps by developing a survival skill to deal with white men. Did skill become an instinct that Hezekiah carried within him for the rest of his life?
Years later as an adult, as a father, a few years after the birth of Benjamin, Hezekiah’s survival instinct may have displayed itself in front of Benjamin, who may never have seen this side of his father. But this manifestation turned out to be pivotable for Benjamin a.k.a. “Bennie” who never forgot that day.
“I REMEMBER A CROWD OF WHITE MEN WHO RODE UP ON HORSEBACK WITH RIFLES ON THEIR SHOULDERS. I WAS WITH MY FATHER WHEN THEY RODE UP, AND I REMEMBER STARTING TO CRY. THEY CURSED MY FATHER, DREW THEIR GUNS AND MADE HIM SALUTE, MADE HIM TAKE OFF HIS HAT AND BOW DOWN TO THEM SEVERAL TIMES. THEN THEY RODE AWAY. I WAS NOT YET FIVE YEARS OLD, BUT I HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN THEM.
“I know now that they were one of the mobs associated with the infamous Phoenix Riot which began in Greenwood County, South Carolina, on November 8, 1898, and spread terror throughout the countryside for many days thereafter. My oldest sister, Susie, tells me, and newspaper reports of that period reveal, that several Negroes were lynched on the ninth and others on subsequent days.
“That mob is my earliest memory.”2
Father and son were truly lucky to survive that encounter associated with the infamous Phoenix Election Riot. But how did his father’s survival instinct effect young Bennie? Young Bennie’s eyes took in what those white men did to his father. Was this the initial spark of rebellion for young Bennie? Perhaps this is the reason why his autobiography would be titled, Born to Rebel: An Autobiography by Benjamin E. Mays.3 ter Mays, never learned to read or write. Bennie’s oldest sister, Susie, was the one who began teaching him at home. She taught him the alphabet, how to count to one hundred and some reading. It wasn’t until Bennie was six years old that he attended the Brickhouse School, a oneroom schoolhouse where he trekked seven miles to attend.4 (The schoolhouse that stands on this historic preservation site is an African American schoolhouse originally located in Mays’s neighborhood of Epworth in southeast Greenwood County, South Carolina.)
Despite quarrels with his father, who insisted he stay on the farm and become a sharecropper, Bennie found education as the key for his future.
“My desire for an education was not only a dream but a goal that drove and prodded me, day and night. I left the farm not to escape it but to find my world, to become myself.”5
Mays graduated in 1916 as the class valedictorian at age 21 from racially segregated high school department of South Carolina State College located in Orangeburg, South Carolina.6
Theodore R. Pinckney’s father, Henry Pinckney, was born in Charleston, South Carolina but no longer lived in South Carolina during the Phoenix Election Riot in 1898 or he may have read about it in the Charleston Daily Courier. Henry migrated from South Carolina to Albany, New York, where he met and married his first wife, Amelia.
Along the way, Henry worked as a hotel porter/porter for hire prior to employment as a messenger for three New York State governors, the first was Roswell P. Flower (1892-1894). Possibly a bittersweet time because Henry’s wife, Amelia, died on Saturday, July 21, 1894.7
Henry next worked for Frank S. Black (1895-1897). Henry fell in love with the former Miss Leonora Mazyck Emmerly, from Saint Augustine, Florida. They married and had their first child, Roswell Newcomb Pinckney, named after Governor Roswell P. Flower.
Then things changed while working for Governor Theodore Roosevelt (1899-1900).8 On Monday, March 4, 1901, Governor Roosevelt became Vice President for President William McKinley. Henry was a messenger for then Vice President Roosevelt.9 On Tuesday, September 10, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney, was born. Then on Saturday, September 14, 1901, President McKinley died in Buffalo, New York, after getting shot nine days earlier and Roosevelt became president of the United States.10 Henry would soon become the White House Steward.
Henry moved Leonora and their sons from Albany, New York to the Washington, D.C. area after baby Teddy’s birth. A house had been built for the family circa 1905. (The Henry Pinckney House is a historic property listed on the Prince George’s County (MD) Historic Sites and District Plan.)11
Young Teddy knew his father had an important job working for the President of the United States. Young Teddy knew he was named after President Roosevelt. Young Teddy was even one of the youngest members of the original White House Gang, which was composed of the children of the president and the White House staff. His older brother, Roswell Pinckney, had already been seen nationwide playing with Quentin Roosevelt. The pictures of 4-year old Quentin and 5-year old Roswell were featured in the August 1902 Ladies Home Journal. (One picture is shown on this page.) The photographer was Frances Benjamin Johnston.12 “Henry Pinckney, who is down on the official roster as “Steward of the White House,” … is a colored man and won his present post as a result of the creditable record that he made when he served the Roosevelts in a similar capacity at Albany during Mr. Roosevelt’s term as governor of New York.”13
In another Washington Post article from Sunday, June 24, 1906, William K. Howard wrote:
“Every dealer in the market knows Henry Pinckney, the colored White House steward, and he generally gets what he wants…A good deal of tact has to be exercised by the dealers, especially when the steward from a foreign embassy makes demand for some tempting edible that has been reserved for the White House table….
“Although only about thirty years of age, Pinckney is a graduate of some of the most fashionable clubs of New York and Washington, and knows his business from A to Z….
“The White House steward’s knowledge of the culinary art is so extensive that he has entire command, and a large kitchen force works under his direction.”14
Henry Pinckney continued working in the White House when William Taft became president but held a different post.
These are the things young Teddy knew of his father. His father was an important, respected, and humble man who worked for the White House and the President of the United States. As a young boy, Teddy could imitate his father’s character. His father, who was his role model, who worked as a messenger in the White House until Wednesday, April 5, 1911, the day 9-year old Teddy saw his father die at home, an image that would stay with him. At age nine, young Teddy may not be as important or have earned the same respect as his father, but young Teddy could imitate his father’s humbleness.
Henry Pinckney was buried back in Albany, New York but the family stayed in the Washington, D.C. area where young Teddy became focused on his education. He would follow his older brother, Roswell, and attend the “Preparatory High School for Colored Youth” in Washington, D.C. The school was later named M Street High School only to be renamed again in 1916 as the “Paul Laurence Dunbar High School” after the acclaimed poet.15 Pinckney graduated from the school in 1919 and was off to college.
So here we have two young men entering Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. At the time of this writing there is no clear story on exactly how they met or under what circumstances but meet they did. As children, each boy had witnessed a different event that shaped their lives. Now, the two young college men aspired an education, possibly to heal their past.
Benjamin E. Mays was the senior classman, Class of 1920, and arrived first. As a young boy he felt the fire to rebel after seeing his sharecropper father humiliated and degraded by a white mob.
Theodore R. Pinckney hailed from the Class of 1923. He grew up remembering and following his father’s example. A father who not only humbly worked in the White House, but also was held in great esteem and respect by the U.S. President and by others from far and near. And when Henry Pinckney died, he died at home where young Teddy witnessed it.
Bates College was a vanguard institution regarding admitting Black students prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. Founded in 1855, the college was affiliated with the “Free Will Baptist denomination, progressive, abolitionist, Baptist morals.”16
Oren B. Cheney, founder and first president of Bates College, 1855 to 1894, worked to make sure no restrictions on admitting students based on race entered the charter of the school. Clifton Daggett Gray, the third president of Bates College, presided from 1920 to 1944 during the time Bates’ debating team went international.17
Mays and Pinckney were participants in the Bates Debate Council during the early years of Gray’s administration. Both Mays and Pinckney were known for their oratory skills while attending the school. Mays became the first African American inducted into the national debate honor society, Delta Sigma Rho (DSR), during a national campaign by Bates College to eliminate the race-based membership. Written in the 1920 edition of “The Mirror,” the Bates College Yearbook, beside Mays’s senior picture was this description:
“Do you hear that rich mellow tone, that Southern dialect? Who can it be with that enchanting ring to his voice, that clear deliberate enunciation to his oratory. That’s Bennie Mays and say can’t he speak! If you hear him once you will always remember him.”18
The 1920 edition of “The Mirror” also described a newly formed organization called The Bates Forum, which not only filled a need at the college to promote intercollegiate debating and training of debaters, but also, was “composed of about thirty men and women at the three upper classes who are especially interested in public questions and Mays was the president of The Bates Forum. Two topics The Bates Forum covered were: the “Deportation of Aliens,” and the “Restriction of Immigrants.” One hundred years later, these are still worthy debate topics. For The Bates Forum’s 1920 yearbook picture, Mays sat as its president in the front center chair.
As for Pinckney, while he worked on his B.S. degree, he participated in the Politics Club, the Editorial Board, the Student Board as well as participating in several other scholarly and athletic extracurricular organizations.20
On Sunday, April 15, 1923, Pinckney penned a handwritten letter on Bates College stationery to his mother. (See next page.):
“Once more Dunbar and D.C. receive a victory up in the wild woodlands of Maine. This time a colored fellow named T. R. Pinckney and from Dunbar High has been chosen as a member of the Bates debating team which is to debate against the team of Bowdoin College here in Lewiston on the tenth of May. At last after many efforts he is a varsity intercollegiate debater. Oh, boy. He says that he remembers how his Mother once looked at a picture of a Georgetown University debating team in the [Washington] “Star” and wished that he could be a debater. Now he is glad to tell her that he is one. He will be dolled up either in tuxedo or full dress evening suit looking as sharp as a tack. You know Bates must win this time. There will be about 2,000 people present if the attendance is as usual.”
The debate team did win. But possibly, more importantly, was the headline of the front page of the Friday, June 1, 1923 issue of “The Bates Student,” the school newspaper. It read, “Pinckney Winner in Senior Prize Oration Contest.” The article noted:
“Theodore R. Pinckney, of Washington, D.C. won the annual Senior Exhibition which was held in Hathorn Hall last Monday evening…21
“Mr. Pinckney’s oration was entitled “His Dual Personality,” and was concerned with the life problems of the negro. Coming as it did from a colored student, the speech carried remarkable genuineness and sincerity of feeling.”22
Written in the 1923 edition of “The Mirror” as part of his senior class picture description was: “A natural born orator, a man whose silvery tongue has held many an audience spell-bound.” His caption also read: “Teddy: Whose words all ears took captive.”23
Maybe Mays knew his friend Pinckney from the Class of 1923 could hold his own and even excel in showing who colored men were.
Mays graduated with his A.B. degree in 1920.24 He married Ellen Edith Harvin on Saturday, July 31, 1920 in Newport News, Elizabeth City/Warrick County, Virginia.25 They met while they both were students at South Carolina State College, and became engaged, but agreed not to marry until he graduated from Bates College. While he was at Bates College, she taught Home Economics at Morris College in Sumter, South Carolina. She died after a brief illness on Friday, February 2, 1923.26
Mays was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1921 and served as pastor at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia until 1923. This was in addition to teaching at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia from 1921 to 1924, and attending the University of Chicago on a part-time basis.27
In 1923, Pinckney graduated from Bates College. The story in the Pinckney household went that Mays notified Pinckney about employment at Morehouse College. Was this a mentor telling a mentee of a good opportunity, or one friend telling another friend about an advantageous situation? Whichever it was, upon graduating from Bates College in 1923, Pinckney went to Morehouse College to teach.
Pinckney was an avid writer often writing his mother, his brother, or his two younger sisters, Mae Youngs Pinckney, and Leonora Emmerly Pinckney. While travelling to Morehouse for his new teaching assignment, Pinckney wrote his mother saying someone assumed he was a new Morehouse student. Unbeknownst to this stranger, 22-year-old Pinckney, standing 5’4½” tall, was a new Morehouse professor. He made no corrections.
In March 1925, Mays was awarded an M.A. in religious studies from the University of Chicago. From 1925 to 1926, Mays taught English at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This is where he met Miss Sadie Gray who also taught at South Carolina State College. Their courtship was kept quiet and they were married, on Monday, August 9, 1926. She soon stopped working at the college because there was a policy against husbands and wives working together on the faculty.28
Mays and Pinckney eventually left their teaching positions at Morehouse College for other prestigious endeavors. Pinckney left even though he had been cited in the 1927 edition of “Who’s Who in Colored America” for teaching biology at Morehouse.29
Pinckney embarked to the University College of
Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1929, Pinckney was awarded his Medicinæ Doctor (MD) degree. His internship and residencies were served at Missouri’s Kansas City General Hospital, also known as General 2. General 2 was the hospital where African Americans were treated because the hospitals in Kansas City, Missouri were segregated, as it related to patient care. Notably, when Dr. Pinckney did arrive, General 2 had become the first public hospital in the United States operated entirely by African Americans.30
Dr. Pinckney met his wife, the former Miss Hermena Clay, at General 2, where she worked as an electrocardiogram (EKG) technician. When she was not working at General 2, she taught private lessons in piano. They were married on Sunday, July 3, 1932.31
When Dr. Pinckney arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1933, it may have seemed like he was following the trail of Dr. Mays, except Dr. Pinckney was returning home to where his mother, siblings, and family resided bringing with him, Hermena, his wife. He was also starting his teaching position at Howard University Medical College and practicing medicine at Freedman’s Hospital, the predecessor to Howard University Hospital.32
In 1934 Mays was appointed Dean of the School of Religion at Howard University. In 1935 his Ph.D. was conferred from the University of Chicago for the thesis, “The Idea of God in Contemporary Negro Literature,” making this one of the first ever dissertations outside the field of sociology to focus specifically on African American studies.33
This was also the year that the two families became even closer. On Christmas Day 1935, Dr. Pinckney’s only child was born; Dr. Mays would eventually become Theodore Clay Pinckney’s godfather.
“After six years at Howard, Mays accepted an offer in 1940 to become president of Morehouse College in Atlanta. For the next twenty-seven years Mays worked tirelessly at Morehouse…”34
In 1967, Dr. Mays retired from Morehouse College where he had been serving as president since 1940. The next year, the King family called on Dr. Mays to eulogize the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Tuesday, April 9, 1968. In Dr. Mays’s opening remarks, he stated:
“To be honored by being requested to give the eulogy at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is like asking one to eulogize his deceased son — so close and so precious was he to me. Our friendship goes back to his student days at Morehouse. It is not an easy task; nevertheless, I accept it, with a sad heart and with full knowledge of my inadequacy to do justice to this man. It was my desire that if I predeceased Dr. King, he would pay tribute to me on my final day. It was his wish that if he predeceased me, I would deliver the homily at his funeral. Fate has decreed that I eulogize him. I wish it might have been otherwise; for, after all I am three score years and 10 and Martin Luther is dead at thirty-nine.”35
In 1969, Dr. Mays ran for an open seat on the Atlanta School Board and won the seat. In 1970, the board elected Dr. Mays as its president, the first African American president of the board. He served for almost 13 years, retiring in 1981.
Another accomplishment of 1970 was Dr. Mays finishing his autobiography, “Born to Rebel: An Autobiography.” The book has stood as an
Dr. Pinckney practiced at Freedman’s Hospital. For thirty-seven years he was a clinical instructor at Howard University Medical College, teaching pharmacology and orthopedic surgery. He also had a private practice on Deane Avenue (renamed Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue), in the northeast quadrant of Washington, D.C., serving the needs of African Americans. He even made house calls, carrying his black medical bag!
When the United States entered World War II, Dr. Pinckney served from 1942 to 1946 in the U.S. Army as a Medical Officer, rank of captain, General Surgery, and was awarded the Victory Medal and the American Campaign Medal. He was assigned as Assistant Chief of Surgical Service and Chief of Orthopedic Service at Tuskegee Army Airfield, Alabama. He later served as a major in the Air Force Reserve.37
The two doctors continued their friendship and, to a degree, they both achieved some high accolades, with Dr. Mays receiving international fame. Dr. Pinckney was awarded the Meritorious Public Service award by the city government of Washington, D.C. and was cited by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy for his service in the administration of the Selected Civil Service System.38
Left DR. BENJAMIN E. AND SADIE MAYS ON THEIR 25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Right DR. THEODORE R. AND HERMENA PINCKNEY AND THEIR SON THEODORE C. PINCKNEY
This next section provides a sampling of the correspondence the two doctors and their families had with each other over the years, often in brief letters, other times with a greeting card. Sometimes correspondence would be between Dr. Mays and Dr. Pinckney, or between Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin E. Mays and Dr. and Mrs. Theodore R. Pinckney. Other times, correspondence would take place between Dr. Mays and his godchild, Theodore C. Pinckney, such as the one that follows. The Pinckneys were also acquainted with Dr. Mays’s family living in the Washington, D.C. area. This provided another avenue for the families to mix. In the following letter, Dr. Mays wrote to his godchild, Theodore C. Pinckney, on Wednesday, June 21, 1950, as his godson prepared to graduate from junior high school.
Dear Mr. Pinckney:
I was glad to get an invitation to your graduation and pleased to know that you are finishing junior high school. I feel confident that you did a good job and I will be watching your career as you continue your work in high school.
Yours truly,
Benjamin E. Mays President39
In another letter from that same year on Monday, December 11, 1950, Dr. Mays wrote to Dr. and Mrs. Theodore Pinckney.
Dear Friends:
It was grand seeing you and I am happy that we had an opportunity to have dinner with you and the fellowship with you. The only regret that I have is that the time was too short. Remember me kindly to my god son.
With kindest regards and best wishes for Christmas and the New Year, I am
Yours truly, Benjamin E. Mays”40
Dr. Mays showed his continued interest in his godson’s higher education pursuits as he prepared to graduate from Palmer Memorial Institute in 1953. Palmer Memorial Institute was a school for upper class African Americans. It was founded by Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown and she named it after Alice Freedman Palmer, the former president of Wellesley College. The school was in Sedalia, North Carolina near the campus of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina.41
On Friday, May 22, 1953, Dr. Mays wrote to Dr. Pinckney.
Dear Theodore:
When I spoke at Bennett College in March I saw my god son and I told him to tell you to send him to Morehouse for his college work. I hope you will give consideration to this.
With kindest regards and best wishes, I am
Yours truly,
Benjamin E. Mays President42 Dear Theodore:
I was very glad that I had a few brief moments with you when I passed through Washington on Wednesday. I was glad to see both of you looking so well. Sadie joins me in sending regards to both of you….
With kindest regards always, I am
Sincerely yours,
Benjamin E. Mays President43
But times were not always bright, and the correspondence was more heartfelt. Dr. Mays received a card of condolence to comfort him at the loss of his second wife, Sadie Gray Mays, from Theodore & Hermena Pinckney.)44
When Dr. Mays finished “Born to Rebel: An Autobiography” in 1970, it included this dedication
“In memory of Sadie. My devoted companion From August 9, 1926 Until her death, October 11, 1969.”45
Dr. Mays wrote a personal note to Dr. and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney when he signed a copy of his 1971 edition “Born to Rebel: An Autobiography” that he gave to them. Although he inadvertently spelled her first name as Hermenia instead of Hermena, the note read:
To Theodore and Hermenia Friends of many years and in memory of Bates Benjamin E. Mays
The rebel and the humble had other occasions to see each other as they aged. Sometimes plans were initiated, but because of circumstances, they could not follow through with those plans. For example, after receiving an invitation on Wednesday, July 5, THEODORE C. & MAITZIE PINCKNEY 1978, for his godson’s second marriage to Maitzie Campbell Barnes,46 Dr. Mays wrote back to Dr. and Mrs. Theodore R. Pinckney on Thursday, July 20, 1978.
It is with deep regrets that I will not be able to be with you on Saturday, July 27, because of previous commitments…
Theodore, I was mighty glad that you could be at the Awards Dinner that was given for me on June 20.
With kindest regards and best wishes to you and the madam, I am
Your friend,
Benjamin E. Mays47
In a handwritten note to Dr. Mays:
Congratulations and best wishes as your years contributions and honors just keep rolling along.
And sincere thanks for you
With love
From All
Hermena and Theodore Pinckney48
Which was followed up with:
Dear Hermena and Theodore:
It was thoughtful of you to remember me on my birthday. I had a lovely day. I turned the scales this year. Instead of my friends putting on a party for me, I entertained them.
I invited to lunch all teachers now in Atlanta whom I invited to Morehouse during my twentyseven years there. Sixty joined me at Paschal’s for a lovely affair. It was enjoyable for me to see many of my friends who helped me in building a great Morehouse. Though they had been in Atlanta during this time, many of them had not seen each other for a long time. We had no head table and this made for better comradeship. You would have enjoyed observing this beautiful affair.
Again, I thank you for remembering me on August 1—my 85th birthday!
Sincerely yours,
Benjamin E. Mays49
Dr. Mays wrote two personal notes when his autobiography, “Lord, The People Have Driven Me On,” was published. The first note went into the autobiography signed for “My Dear Friend, Dr. Theodore Pinckney.” The second personal note went into a second copy of the autobiography, for which he wrote the following message.:
To: My God Son Theodore C. Pinckney I hope your profession Is going well.
4-12-‘81 Benjamin E. Mays50
Dr. Pinckney died on Monday, July 5, 1982, at the age of 80, just two days after celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife, Hermena. did not live to see the date of their next anniversary because she died just seven months later, on Wednesday, February 2, 1983. Theodore C. Pinckney sent his father’s funeral program to his godfather, Dr. Mays.51 Wednesday, March 28, 1984, when Dr. Mays died in Atlanta, at the age of 89.
Their friendship did not end with their deaths. Rev. Dwight “Jerry” Powell, greatnephew of Dr. Mays, spoke at the dedication and unveiling of the statue of Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays on Saturday, November 4, 2017. Among those who were in the audience was Rev. Powell’s wife, Terri, and the two youngest of their five children, Shannon and Lorran Powell, their daughters. The three of them were sitting with Kevin C. Pinckney, grandson of Dr. Pinckney and author of this paper. Unfortunately, the Powell’s older children, their sons, Ryan, Jonathan, and Evan Powell were unable to make it to the celebratory weekend.
It was no coincidence that Rev. Powell and Kevin C. Pinckney were there. They are friends to this day and fellow employees of the Library of Congress where two other grandchildren of Dr. Pinckney work: Derrick and Amy Barnes, Kevin C. Pinckney’s brother and sister-in-law.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE REBEL MET THE HUMBLE IN BATES COLLEGE. TWO YOUNG MEN WHO AFFIRM THE SCHOOL MOTTO. THE MOTTO OF BATES COLLEGE IS AMORE AC STUDIO, “WITH ARDOR AND DEVOTION.” THE REBEL AND THE HUMBLE.
THE POWELL FAMILY (FROM LEFT): LORRAN, JONATHAN HOLDING AMAYAH, CORINNE WIFE OF EVAN, EVAN, TERRI WIFE OF REV. POWELL, REV. DWIGHT “JERRY” POWELL, TERRI IS HOLDING LAELLA, SHANNON WHO IS STANDING BEHIND VIVIANA, AND RYAN, WHO IS STANDING BEHIND ASHER. AMY & DERRICK BARNES STATUE OF DR. MAYS AND KEVIN C. PINCKNEY THE STATUE IS LOCATED IN DR. MAYS’S HOMETOWN OF GREENWOOD, SOUTH CAROLINA
1. Find a Grave, database and images (https:// www.findagrave.com : accessed 06 June 2020), memorial page for Hezekiah Mays (5 Oct 1856–6 Jun 1938), Find a Grave Memorial no. 111736877, citing Old Mount Zion Baptist
Church Cemetery, Ninety Six, Greenwood County, South Carolina, USA ; Maintained by
RBA (contributor 47768839). 2. Benjamin E. Mays, Born to Rebel: An Autobiography by Benjamin E. Mays. (New York:
Scribner), 1971, 1. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid, 11. 5. Ibid, 36. 6. Dr. Benjamin E. Mays / Dr. Benjamin E. Mays - A Brief History. “Benjamin E. Mays High School: A Legacy to Keep, An Image to Uphold.” https:// www.atlantapublicschools.us/Page/14972 (accessed March 13, 2020). 7. Ancestry.com. Menands, New York, Albany Rural Cemetery Burial Cards, 1791-2011 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Albany Rural Cemetery
Internment Cards. Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York. 8. “Obituary,” The New York Times. New York, N.Y. USA (April 7, 1911): 7. Ancestry.com. 9. Ancestry.com. U.S., Register of Civil, Military, and Naval Service, 1863-1959 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census. Official Register of the United States, Containing a List of the Officers and Employees in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service. Digitized books (77 volumes). Oregon State Library, Salem, Oregon. (Accessed February 25, 2020.) 10. Wikipedia contributors, “First inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index. php?title=First_inauguration_of_Theodore_ Roosevelt&oldid=957599748 (accessed June 6, 2020). 11. Prince George’s County Public Schools, “Doswell E. Brooks,” Celebrating African American History - Fairmount Heights Prince George’s County, Maryland. February 2006, 7. http://www. pgcps.org/~fmhts/Tribute_files/Fairmount%20 Heightsbooklet.pdf (accessed March 14, 2008). 12. Jacob A. Riis, 1902. Mrs. Roosevelt and Her Children. Ladies’ Home Journal, August, 5-6; Johnston, Frances Benjamin, photographer.
Quentin Roosevelt and Roswell Newcomb Pinckney seated on steps. , ca. 1902. June 17. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/ item/2001703926/. 13. “Christmas Marketing for the White House,” Washington Post, Washington, D.C. (December 17, 1905): 7. Ancestry.com. Historical Newspapers, Birth, Marriage, & Death Announcements, 1851-2003 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah, USA: The Generations Network,
Inc., 2006 (accessed January 17, 2008). 14. William K. Howard, “White House Table Supplied with Best Market Affords, but Wholesomeness First Considered.” Washington Post, Washington, D.C. (June 24, 1906) [database on-line]. ProQuest. http://www.proquest.com/ (accessed
February 26, 2008). 15. Cultural Tourism D.C. “Paul Laurence Dunbar
High School,” African American Heritage Trail Database. 2007. http://www.culturaltourismdc. org/info-url3948/info-url_show.htm?doc_ id=204752&attrib_id=8030 (accessed March 15,
2008). 16. Bates College: 150 Years; Chapter 2: Race Relations on the Bates Campus. https://www. bates.edu/150-years/history/progressivetradition/chapter-2/ (accessed on December 13, 2019). 17. Bates College: Office of the President; Presidential History. https://www.bates.edu/ president/presidential-history/ (accessed on
December 13, 2019).
18. “Mirror, 1920: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Bates College, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/mirror192000unse/ page/48. 19. “Mirror, 1920: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Bates College, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/mirror192000unse/ page/94. 20. Bates College, “The Bates Student - volume 51 number 18 - June 1, 1923” (1923). The Bates Student. 226. https://scarab.bates.edu/bates_ student/226 (accessed November 7, 2017). 21. Hathorn Hall was named after Seth Hathorn and Mary Hathorn of Woolwich, Maine. They donated funds for the construction of the building which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Wikipedia contributors, “Hathorn Hall,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https:// en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hathorn_ Hall&oldid=958553275 (accessed June 6, 2020). 22. Bates College, “The Bates Student - volume 51 number 18 - June 1, 1923” (1923). The Bates
Student. 226. 23. “Mirror, 1923: Free Download, Borrow and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Bates College, 1 Jan 1970, archive.org/details/mirror192300unse/ page/62. 24. In 1920, Bates College used the Latin degree name “artium baccalaureus,” or A.B., for its students when Mays had his undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts conferred upon him. Each graduating student is identified by his or her name and the degree abbreviation conferred. Mays is found on page 48. “Mirror, 1920: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Bates College, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/ details/mirror192000unse/page/48. 25. Newport News is within Elizabeth City County, Virginia. Elizabeth City County has had its boundaries merged with Warwick County, Virginia. The place of marriage has been mentioned each way in various resources. Wikipedia contributors, “Benjamin Mays,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https:// en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benjamin_ Mays&oldid=942603958 (accessed February 27, 2020). Benjamin E. Mays, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays speaks: Representative Speeches of a Great American Orator, ed. Freddie C. Colston (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2002), 9. 26. Wikipedia contributors, “Benjamin Mays,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https:// en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benjamin_ Mays&oldid=942603958 (accessed February 27, 2020). 27. Benjamin E. Mays, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays speaks: Representative Speeches of a Great American Orator, ed. Freddie C. Colston (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2002), 9. 28. Wikipedia contributors, “Benjamin Mays,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https:// en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benjamin_ Mays&oldid=942603958 (accessed February 27, 2020); Benjamin E. Mays, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays speaks: Representative Speeches of a Great American Orator, ed. Freddie C. Colston (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2002), 9. 29. “Who’s Who in Colored America.” Edited by Joseph J. Boris, Vol. 1, Who’s Who In Colored America Corp., New York, 1927, Vol. 1, p. 159. 30. “Separate but Equal?” KC History The Kansas City Public Library. (accessed March 2, 2020). https:// kchistory.org/week-kansas-city-history/separateequal. 31. Funeral program of Hermena Clay Pinckney, Tuesday, February 8, 1983. 32. Stolp-Smith, M. (2018, March 25) Freedmen’s Hospital/Howard University Hospital (1862– ),” last modified March 25, 2018, https://www. blackpast.org/african-american-history/ freedmen-s-hospital-howard-universityhospital-1862/ (accessed May 14, 2020). 33. Future Intellectuals: Benjamin E. Mays (AM 1925, PhD 1935) - Integrating the Life of the Mind - The University of Chicago Library. https://www.lib. uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/integrating-lifemind/future-intellectuals-benjamin-e-mays-am1925-phd-1935/ (accessed on December 12, 2019.) 34. “Mays, Benjamin Elijah,” by Orville Vernon
Burton and Matthew Cheney. South Carolina Encyclopedia. http://www.scencyclopedia.org/ sce/entries/maysbenjamin-elijah-2/ (accessed
December 3, 2019). University of South Carolina, Institute for Southern Studies. Original Published Date August 10, 2016. Date of Last Update March 9, 2017. 35. Carter, L.E. (1998) Walking Integrity: Benjamin Elijah Mays, Mentor to Martin Luther King Jr. [Google Books version]. Retrieved from https:// books.google.com/books?id=kD6XZYVwvsQC (accessed June 6, 2020). P. 210. 36. “Mays, Benjamin Elijah,” by Orville Vernon
Burton and Matthew Cheney. South Carolina Encyclopedia. http://www.scencyclopedia.org/ sce/entries/maysbenjamin- elijah-2/ (accessed
December 3, 2019). University of South Carolina, Institute for Southern Studies. Original Published Date August 10, 2016. Date of Last Update March 9, 2017. 37. “Former Washington Physician Appointed Chief of Orthopedic Service At T. A. A. F.” Newspapers. com - The New York Age - 5 Jun 1943 - Page 12, www.newspapers.com/clip/40168843/the_new_ york_age/?xid=637. 38. “Dr. Theodore R. Pinckney, cited by four presidents,” Washington Times, July 9, 1982, 2B; Funeral program of Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney, M.D., Saturday, July 10, 1982. 39. Correspondence between Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays and Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney by date as found in Howard University Manuscripts Division. Staff, MSRC, “MAYS, Benjamin” (2015). Manuscript Division. 132. https://dh.howard. edu/finaid_manu/132. Series B: Box 223 - 37 Correspondence Folder 45 Pinckney, Theodore. 40. Ibid. 41. Wikipedia contributors, “Palmer Memorial Institute,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia. org/w/index.php?title=Palmer_Memorial_ Institute&oldid=915742652 (accessed March 5,
2020). 42. Correspondence between Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays and Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney by date as found in Howard University Manuscripts Division. Staff, MSRC, “MAYS, Benjamin” (2015). Manuscript Division. 132. https://dh.howard. edu/finaid_manu/132. Series B: Box 223 - 37 Correspondence Folder 45 Pinckney, Theodore. 43. Ibid. 44. Correspondence between Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays and Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney by date as found in Howard University Manuscripts Division. Staff, MSRC, “MAYS, Benjamin” (2015). Manuscript Division. 132. https://dh.howard. edu/finaid_manu/132. Series B: Box 223 - 37 Correspondence Folder 45 Pinckney, Theodore. 45. Benjamin E. Mays, Born to Rebel: An Autobiography by Benjamin E. Mays. (New York:
Scribner), 1971. 46. Correspondence between Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays and Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Pinckney by date as found in Howard University Manuscripts Division. Staff, MSRC, “MAYS, Benjamin” (2015). Manuscript Division. 132. https://dh.howard. edu/finaid_manu/132. Series B: Box 223 - 37 Correspondence Folder 45 Pinckney, Theodore. 47. Ibid. 48. Ibid. 49. Ibid. 50. Benjamin E. Mays, Lord, The People Have Driven Me On. (New York: Vantage Press), 1981. 51. Mays. Manuscript Division, 132, Box 223-37 Correspondence Folder 45 Pinckney
Family Photographs Courtesy of:
Mrs. Bernice Mays Perkins, Niece of Dr. Mays
The Pinckney Family
Reverend Dwight “Jerry” Powell and the Powell Family
GLEAMNS HRC/Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historic Preservation Site
TAKE YOURTAKE YOUR
GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES& MUSIC& MUSIC ANYWHEREANYWHERETAKE YOURTAKE YOUR Overdrive CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG Overdrive Libby CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES& MUSIC& MUSIC AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG Overdrive Libby Flipster CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT ANYWHEREANYWHERE GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES& MUSIC& MUSIC AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG Overdrive Libby Flipster Freegal CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY PUBLIC LIBRARY ANYWHEREANYWHERE GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES& MUSIC& MUSIC AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG Overdrive Libby Flipster Freegal PUBLIC LIBRARY PUBLIC LIBRARY ANYWHEREANYWHERE GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES GET eBOOKS, eAUDIOBOOKS, DIGITAL MAGAZINES& MUSIC& MUSIC AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG AT WWW.GREENWOODCOUNTYLIBRARY.ORG Overdrive Libby Flipster Freegal CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT CONTACT THE REFERENCE DESK @ 941-4655 FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT
