In September 1944, Martin Luther King, Jr., at the age of 15, began his studies at Morehouse College in Atlanta, following in the footsteps of his father, Martin Luther King, Sr., and his grandfather, A. D. Williams.
Benjamin E. Mays, who served as president of Morehouse from 1940 to 1967, played a critical role in King's college experience and was described by King as "one of the great influences in my life." Mays believed that black colleges should be "experimentations in democratic living" and challenged Morehouse students to struggle against segregation rather than accommodate themselves to it. He also introduced many of his students to Mohandas Gandhi'sphilosophy of nonviolence, which Mays had gained appreciation for during his travels to India. It was also at this time that King was introduced to Henry David Thoreau's essay On Civil Disobedience. This was King's first contact with the theory of nonviolent resistance.
While King displayed limited interest in his studies during his time at Morehouse, he was president of the sociology club as well as a member of the debating team, student council, glee club, and minister's union. King also joined the Morehouse chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and played on the Butler Street YMCA basketball team. A friend of King's, Walter R. McCall, recalled that King was an "ordinary student" during his time at Morehouse: "I don't think [King] took his studies very seriously, but seriously enough to get by." King did, however, f lourish in other areas, winning second prize in the John L. Webb oratorical competition in 1946 and 1948.
While King's tenure at Morehouse may have been defined by academic mediocrity, his experiences outside the classroom set him on a path towards the ministry and the struggle for civil rights. His growing awareness of social and political issues is evident in the surviving writings from his undergraduate years. The summer before his junior year, King wrote a letter to the editor of the Atlanta Constitution responding to a series of racially motivated murders in Georgia. In the letter, King summarized the goals of black citizens: "We want and are entitled to the basic rights and opportunities of American citizens: The right to earn a living at work for which we are fitted by training and ability; equal opportunities in education, health, recreation, and similar public services; the right to vote; equality before the law; some of the same courtesy and good manners that we ourselves bring to all human relations.”
During his junior year, King was invited to write an article for the school paper, the Maroon Tiger. King's article, "The Purpose of Education," warned students of misconceptions about the purpose of education, asserting that the function of education is "to teach one to think intensively and to think critically." The following year, his commitment to social change was strengthened through his involvement with the Intercollegiate Council, an interracial student group that met monthly to discuss various social issues. King's participation with white students in these meetings helped him to overcome his own anti-white feelings. King recalled, "I had been ready to resent the whole white race, but as I got to see more of white people, my resentment was softened, and a spirit of cooperation took its place. I was at the point where I was deeply interested in political matters and social ills. I could envision myself playing a part in breaking down the legal barriers to Negro rights."
In a 1956 interview, King revealed that it was Mays and Morehouse professor of religion George Kelsey who inspired him to enter the ministry: "I could see in their lives the ideal of what I wanted a minister to be." King was drawn to Kelsey's emphasis on the Christian gospel as the basis for social and racial reform, and Kelsey provided King with the intellectual resources needed to bridge the gap between the religious traditions of his youth and the secular ideas he had learned in college. After taking Kelsey's course, King realized "that behind the legends and myths of the Book were many profound truths which one could not escape."