Howard Thurman Home

Howard Thurman Home

614 Whitehall Street

The house, built in 1888, was the birthplace and childhood home of Howard Thurman. The restored structure reflects the appearance and character of its historic association with the life of Howard Thurman.

Raised by his illiterate, formerly enslaved grandmother, Thurman became the first Black in Florida to pass 8th grade, paving the way for educational equality in the Florida school system. Thurman’s professor taught Thurman on his own time, enabling him to gain acceptance to the Florida Academy Baptist High School in Jacksonville. Thurman solicited the assistance of James N. Gamble, of Procter & Gamble, who paid for his school expenses while in Jacksonville, according to the Thurman Home National Register nomination.

In 1936, Thurman spent six months in India, giving 136 lectures in 50 cities, culminating with a meeting with Mahatma Gandhi. At the meeting, Gandhi proclaimed, “It may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world.”, as printed July 31, 2019, in the Conversation, “How Howard Thurman met Gandhi and brought nonviolence to the civil rights movement.”

Gandhi’s philosophy and practice deeply influenced Thurman's understanding of nonviolent resistance and shaped his later role as a mentor to Civil Rights Leaders. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embraced the Gandhian principles of nonviolent resistance as a core strategy for the civil rights movement.

Thurman authored more than 20 books, including Jesus and the Disinherited, which provided spiritual guidance for the civil rights movement. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was often seen reading it before dawn during much of the Civil Rights Movement, according to the Thurman Home National Register nomination.

When Thurman gave the commencement address at Bethune-Cookman College in 1963, he was recognized with a parade in his honor and was provided with a key to the city.

Listed in the Florida Black Heritage Trail guide and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Timeline

1888 - Home Built

1889 - Howard Thurman Born

1917 - Moved to Jacksonville

1923 - Graduated from Morehouse College

1925 - Ordained Baptist Minister

1932 - Dean & Professor at Howard University

1936 - Met Mahatma Gandhi

1949 - Wrote Jesus and the Disinherited

1990 - Placed on the National Register of Historic Places