Benjamin E. Mays

CTL-E-6238 · Person · educator · 1894–1984

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07432 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6238.

Benjamin Elijah Mays (1894–1984) was a Baptist minister and educator who served as president of Morehouse College in Atlanta from 1940 to 1967 and became one of the most influential mentors of the civil rights generation. Born on August 1, 1894, in Epworth, South Carolina, to parents who had been enslaved, he earned his B.A. from Bates College in 1920, was ordained a Baptist minister in 1921, and completed his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. From 1934 to 1940 he was dean of the School of Religion at Howard University. At Morehouse his weekly chapel addresses drew students into sustained discussion of theology and public life; Martin Luther King Jr., a student there in the 1940s, regarded him as a spiritual mentor and intellectual father, and Mays delivered the eulogy at King's funeral in 1968. After retiring from Morehouse, Mays became the first Black president of the Atlanta Board of Education. He received the NAACP's Spingarn Medal and, by the Stanford King Institute's count, 28 honorary degrees. He died in Atlanta on March 28, 1984.

The record

• Also known as: Benjamin Elijah Mays, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 6 — 747 Program, Wave 13; sixth Scan Tail packet at the founder’s 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): Gate A CLEAR (script + hand-checked 2026-10-16): no Benjamin E. Mays entity, alias, or variant in the live graph (3,910 entities). ID CTL-E-6238 free at staging. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger — scan string #2518 (corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json), banked in the Scan Tail Wave 5 reserve (Appendix E), re-screened CLEAR against the live graph at 3,910 entities by this wave. The supply supplied the name only; every fact is sourced under CTL-GOV-004. SCOPE GATE: National-scope Person record (Atlanta-centered career); no Chicago claim is made — Mays enters the graph through Morehouse College (CTL-E-1624) and his mentorship of Martin Luther King Jr. (CTL-E-0342), both already in the graph. Vital status: Deceased — born August 1, 1894, Epworth, South Carolina; died March 28, 1984, Atlanta, Georgia (Stanford King Institute and Britannica, both opened 2026-10-16, in agreement). STATISTICS — Morehouse presidency 1940–1967 (27 years); Howard deanship 1934–1940; 28 honorary degrees per the Stanford King Institute (opened 2026-10-16). No conflicting figures appeared in the opened sources; a Congressional Record tribute located in search (not opened, not cited) gives a higher honorary-degree count and is not carried. MEDIA: photo HELD (HELD — candidate: the Mays portrait credited to Morehouse College that illustrates reference coverage of his life (the New Georgia Encyclopedia entry located in search carries a Morehouse-credited image; that page could not be opened in this session). No file page was read at file level and NO license is claimed — PHOTO-001 verification deferred.); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6238-benjamin-e-mays.svg); video HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 rows, grepped 2026-10-16 for Mays / Morehouse / mentor variants); no near-miss title found.); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A. MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record’s sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 rows, grepped 2026-1) | audio = HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.)

Relationships

• Howard University — affiliated with
  Mays was dean of Howard's School of Religion from 1934 to 1940 (Stanford King Institute; Britannica). Person→School allowed for affiliated_with.
• Martin Luther King Jr. — related to
  King regarded Mays as his spiritual mentor and intellectual father; the relationship began while King was a Morehouse student and Mays eulogized him in 1968 (Stanford King Institute; Britannica). related_to covers documented mentorship, Person→Person.
• Morehouse College — affiliated with
  Mays served as president of Morehouse College from 1940 to 1967 (Stanford King Institute; Britannica). Person→School is an allowed affiliated_with pairing in the schema.

Sources

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University — Mays, Benjamin Elijah (accessed 2026-10-16) — dates August 1, 1894 to March 28, 1984; born Epworth, South Carolina; Bates B.A. 1920; ordained 1921; Howard School of Religion dean 1934–1940; Morehouse president 1940–1967; King called him his spiritual mentor; Mays eulogized King in 1968; first Black president of the Atlanta Board of Education; 28 honorary degrees and the Spingarn Medal — https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/mays-benjamin-elijah (primary source · build store)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica (Britannica Kids Students) — Benjamin Elijah Mays (accessed 2026-10-16) — Morehouse president 1940–1967; born August 1, 1894, Epworth, South Carolina; Bates 1920; University of Chicago M.A. 1925 and Ph.D. 1935; Howard dean 1934–1940; King regarded Mays as spiritual mentor and intellectual father; Mays delivered King's funeral eulogy; Spingarn Medal 1982; died Atlanta, March 28, 1984 — https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Benjamin-Elijah-Mays/312400 (build store)

More person records

• Julian Perez
• Juliana Stratton
• Julie Dash
• Julieanna L. Richardson
• Julius Erving
• Julius F. Taylor

Browse the full directory: all entity records

Record CTL-E-6238 · Combined Graph record U-07432 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources · 3 mapped relationships.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

Cite this record

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.