1

Senate Resolution

2

A resolution honoring the life and preserving the legacy

3

of Dr. Howard W. Thurman.

4

5

     WHEREAS, Dr. Howard W. Thurman, an educator, author,

6

ordained minister and preacher, philosopher, theologian, and

7

civil rights leader, was one of the most important people in

8

American history, and

9

     WHEREAS, Howard Thurman, who was born in 1900 in Daytona

10

Beach, Florida, and raised by his grandmother, a former slave,

11

developed a deep commitment to breaking through the walls that

12

separate mankind on the basis of race, color, creed, or national

13

origin, and

14

     WHEREAS, as a professor and dean of the chapels at Howard

15

University and Boston University, Howard Thurman created a

16

climate of action-oriented nonviolence, which was later inherited

17

by the civil rights movement, and

18

     WHEREAS, as a cofounder of the Church for the Fellowship of

19

All Peoples in San Francisco, California, Howard Thurman

20

stimulated change in the racial and cultural policies of American

21

churches, and

22

     WHEREAS, as a theologian and cultural ambassador, Howard

23

Thurman met with world figures, including Mahatma Gandhi, who

24

deepened Thurman's faith in the power of nonviolent resistance to

25

segregation, and

26

     WHEREAS, as an author of 20 books of ethical and cultural

27

criticism, Howard Thurman deeply influenced prominent leaders of

28

the civil rights movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

29

and

30

     WHEREAS, subsequent to Howard Thurman's death in 1981, the

31

Howard Thurman Program was established at Stetson University in

32

partnership with New Birth Corporation, an organization dedicated

33

to fostering a cultural renaissance in the African-American

34

community headed by Reverend Jefferson P. Rogers, and

35

     WHEREAS, under the directorship of Reverend Rogers, the

36

Howard Thurman Program and its Howard Thurman Lecture Series

37

extend the legacy of the Daytona Beach native, Howard Thurman,

38

and integrate the work of scholars with community leaders to find

39

solutions to social, religious, and ethnic problems, NOW,

40

THEREFORE,

41

42

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

43

44

     That the life of Dr. Howard W. Thurman is hereby honored and

45

his legacy is preserved.

46

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with

47

the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to Reverend

48

Jefferson P. Rogers, Director of the Howard Thurman Program at

49

Stetson University, as a tangible token of the sentiments of the

50

Florida Senate.