Daytona Beach in Volusia County, Florida — The American South (South Atlantic)

Historic Childhood Home of Dr. Howard Thurman

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, February 26, 2020

1. Historic Childhood Home of Dr. Howard Thurman Marker Side 1

Inscription. Side 1
Born in West Palm Beach in 1899, Dr. Howard Washington Thurman spent much of his childhood in this house. Built circa 1888, the house was owned by Nancy Ambrose, Thurman's maternal grandmother, a former slave whose faith influenced his own. At the age of one, Thurman moved with his family to live with his grandmother in Daytona Beach. Family friend Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was a mentor to Thurman, and her work in African American education influenced him greatly. While in Daytona, he was able to finish the 8th grade, an opportunity rarely afforded to African Americans in the area at that time. Thurman moved to Jacksonville to attend secondary school at the Florida Baptist Academy. He continued his education at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and was graduated in 1923 as valedictorian. In 1925, he was ordained as a Baptist minister after completing seminary training at the Colgate-Rochester School of Divinity in New York. The school only accepted two black students per year. In the late 1920s, Thurman transitioned from student to teacher, working at multiple religious and educational institutions. In 1929,

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he returned to Atlanta to serve as the Director of Religious Life at Morehouse College. (Continued on other side) Side 2 (Continued from other side) From 1932 until 1944, Thurman served as the first Dean of Rankin Chapel at Howard University, where he became one of the most influential early voices sharing the nonviolent philosophy of the modern Civil Rights Movement in America. In a 1935 pilgrimage to India, Thurman led the first African American delegation to meet with nonviolent resistance leader Mahatma Gandhi. This experience led him in 1944 to cofound the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, California. It is an interracial and interdenominational Christian church, described by Thurman as "a pilot development of the integrated church movement in America." Thurman published his most famous book, Jesus and the Disinherited, in 1949, a work that would go on to influence a host of activists and leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, including a young Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1953, Harold C. Case, the president of the predominantly-white Boston University, appointed Thurman as the first black Dean of Marsh

Historic Childhood Home of Dr. Howard Thurman Marker Side 2 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, December 31, 1903

2. Historic Childhood Home of Dr. Howard Thurman Marker Side 2

Chapel. He served in the position until 1965. As a result of Thurman's contributions to education, African American civil rights, and religious integration, this house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Erected 2018 by New Birth Corporation, Inc., and the Florida Department of State. (Marker Number F-1046.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Education • Religion & Religious Structures. In addition, it is included in the Mary McLeod Bethune series list.

Location. 29° 11.95′ N, 81° 1.293′ W. Marker is in Daytona Beach, Florida, in Volusia County. It is on Whitehall Street 0.1 miles south of Cedar Street, on the left when traveling north. House is now a museum about his life. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 614 Whitehall Street, Daytona Beach FL 32114, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in First Coast.

It is also in the American South

and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North

Historic Childhood Home of Dr. Howard Thurman Marker image. Click for more information.

Photographed by Larry Gertner, May 25, 2021

3. Historic Childhood Home of Dr. Howard Thurman Marker

NPS National Register of Historic Places registration/continuation form
Click for more information.

America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Daytona Times Building (approx. ¼ mile away); Olds Hall (approx. 0.4 miles away); Delos A. Blodgett House (approx. 0.4 miles away); John H. Dickerson Community Center (approx. 0.4 miles away); The General Store (approx. 0.4 miles away); First Church of Christ, Scientist (approx. half a mile away); 432 South Beach Street (approx. half a mile away); The Abby (approx. half a mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Daytona Beach.

Also see . . . Howard Thurman. Wikipedia biography (Submitted on May 25, 2021, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)

Historic Childhood Home of Dr. Howard Thurman image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Tim Fillmon

4. Historic Childhood Home of Dr. Howard Thurman

Dr. Howard Thurman image. Click for full size.

via Wikipedia, unknown

5. Dr. Howard Thurman

Detail from a stained glass window featuring Howard Thurman at Howard University's Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel

Supplemental Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, May 15, 2021

6. Supplemental Marker

This marker notes the house's inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

Credits. This page was last revised on September 25, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 7, 2020, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. This page has been viewed 1,183 times since then and 91 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on March 7, 2020, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. 3. submitted on May 25, 2021, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. 4. submitted on March 7, 2020, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. 5. submitted on May 25, 2021, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. 6. submitted on May 24, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.