Tilley, John Lee, 1898-1971
Dates
- Existence: 1898 - 1971
Biographical Statement
John Lee Tilley, born in 1898 to Harvey and Emma (Glenn) Tilley, was a Baptist minister, educator, administrator, author and civil rights leader; director of Christian Education for the United Baptist Missionary Convention of Maryland; president of the Baltimore Fellowship, Inc.; active alumnus of Shaw University; graduate of the University of Chicago; pastor of New Metropolitan Baptist Church; director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Register to Vote Campaign in Maryland and eleven southern states; executive secretary of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); and great nephew of Hugh Tilley, a member of the state's legislature during Reconstruction.
Throughout his career, Dr. Tilley was to manifest a continuing interest in his Alma Mater, Shaw University, which he served in several capacities, among which were Director of Public Relations and Alumni Affairs as the school was preparing to conduct a special campaign for the celebration of its centennial in 1965 and as its first dean for the School of Religion. The training of men for the ministry was to prove a recurrent thread in the pattern of his career.
As early as 1933, shortly after his graduation from the University of Chicago, he was directing Shaw's School of Religion, a position which he relinquished to become president of Florida Normal and Industrial Institute, a Baptist College located in St. Augustine, Florida. Leaving that post, he returned to a deanship of the Maryland Baptist Center and School of Religion. Moreover, the last academic position held by him was that of visiting lecturer at the Howard School of Religion.
Perhaps the foremost contribution reserved for Dr. Tilley was in the area of voter registration in the South. Tilley's success in spearheading such a drive for the NAACP in Baltimore led Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to offer him the position of executive secretary of Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. He then launched drives in 11 southern states to increase the number of African Americans registered to vote. Several organizations expressed their appreciation for the caliber of leadership exhibited in the effort and conferred various honors highlighting the achievements of Dr. Tilley in this area.
In addition to the publication of articles in the International Journal of Religious Education, et al, Dr. Tilley wrote A Brief History of the Negro in Chicago, 1779-1933; he published The Orderly Way, with accompanying forms for implementation by churches interested in that particular system of church finance. During his student days at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, he had constructed an instrument for measuring certain racial attitudes. It was called "A Scale to Measure the Attitude of Negroes toward White People."
The Baltimore Afro-American quoted Mrs. Enolia P. McMillian in its lengthy tribute to Dr. Tilley, featuring a pictorial and editorial review of the highlights of the work for which he became so widely respected. Her words summarize the impact of this man on his peers and co-workers:
"He was an outstanding and dedicated citizen, locally and nationally in the areas of civil rights and Christian responsibility and performance… The influence he exerted in the lives of hundreds of individuals and many organizations will last eternally."