A City Council Resolution Honoring The Life of Dr. Conrad Walter Worrill
WHEREAS, Almighty God in His infinite wisdom and judgment has called Dr. Conrad Walter Worrill, an outstanding citizen of the 8th Ward and the City of Chicago, to his everlasting reward on June 3, 2020; and
WHEREAS, This August Chicago City Council body has been informed of his passing by the Honorable Michelle A. Harris, Alderman of the 8th Ward; and
WHEREAS, Conrad Walter Worrill was born on August 15, 1941, in Pasadena, California. His mother, Anna Bell, was the first African American to sing in the Pasadena Philharmonic Orchestra and his father, Walter, was a college-educated YMCA manager. Dr. Conrad Worrill became an activist and scholar whose goal is to advance the cause and concept of African independence and self-determination both in the United States and internationally; and
WHEREAS, After moving to Chicago on his ninth birthday, Dr. Worrill became serious about athletics. He gained his first racial consciousness through competitive swimming when his black YMCA team faced serious heckling. In 1962, he was drafted into the Army and shipped to Okinawa, Japan. While overseas, he read profusely about African American history, culture and politics. After he returned to Chicago in 1963, Dr. Worrill attended George Williams College, but became radicalized by the Black Power movement. After graduating in 1968, a West Side YMCA hired him as the program director. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He headed George Williams College's Urban Institute in 1973 and began teaching at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago in 1976, where he was the coordinator and professor of Inner City Studies Education; and
WHEREAS, While organizing in 1983 to elect Chicago's first black mayor, Harold Washington, Dr. Worrill co-founded the Task Force for Black Political Empowerment. As the national chairman of the National Black United Front (NBUF), he worked aggressively to cha...
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