About The Howard Thurman Historic Home
Thurman lived in this three-bedroom house from birth in 1899 until he left for college (with the exception of his days at Florida Baptist Academy in Jacksonville, Florida, from the 8th grade to his high school graduation). He often recounted the tremendous uplifting spiritual experience he got from sitting under the big oak tree in the house's backyard. There, he said he dreamed of one day creating a church which would grow beyond racial and economic barriers.
In his adult life, when he lived on or near college campuses, he often returned to the house and kept some of his belongings here; it remained in his family and was passed along. It fell into disrepair over the decades and, in the mid-1980s, it was refurbished and opened up as a cultural and educational center, through the stewardship of the New Birth Corporation, Inc., a nonprofit ecumenical organization.