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Conrad Tillard
Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Baptist minister, radio host, activist, politician, and author.
Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam (NOI). He was at age 25 appointed Minister of Mosque No. 7 in Harlem, a position formerly held by Malcolm X. He became known as the "Hip-Hop Minister," noted for his outspoken opposition to the promotion of gangsterism in hip-hop music lyrics, and for defusing potentially violent feuds between rappers.
Tillard left the NOI in 1997 when he was 32 years old, and returned to Christianity. He became a Christian preacher at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, then the Senior Pastor at the Nazarene Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ, in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in New York City, and now the Senior Minister at Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn. He also wrote a memoir, was a radio host, and became an adjunct college professor.
Tillard ran for New York State Senator in 2022, in a Democratic primary campaign for the New York State Senate against incumbent State Senator Jabari Brisport. He was endorsed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams. During that campaign, he became the subject of renewed controversy over his past history of antisemitic, anti-abortion, and anti-LGBTQ remarks. Brisport won the primary.
Tillard was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to Washington, D.C., when he was very young, and grew up in the Christian religion. His biological father was a tailor and part-time jazz musician. After his parents divorced during his childhood, his mother married a Baptist minister. In D.C., he attended Wilson High School and graduated from Francis L. Cardozo High School.
Tillard attended Lincoln University, which was historically Black, transferred to Middlebury College in the fall of 1984, then to Wesleyan University. He then transferred in 1986 to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he became President of the Black Students League and earned a B.A. in African American studies in 1988.
Tillard studied in graduate school at the Harvard Divinity School in the late 1990s, and at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in public administration. He earned a Master of Divinity degree in systematic theology and Christian social ethics at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Theology in practical theology (with a concentration in congregational ministry).
In 1984, Tillard worked as a coordinator of the presidential campaign of Jesse Jackson, first in Philadelphia and then at Jackson's national headquarters in Washington, D.C. Years later he said: "I became discouraged and almost bitter against the political process, because I felt that he was disrespected, but that was in my immaturity."
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Conrad Tillard
Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Baptist minister, radio host, activist, politician, and author.
Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam (NOI). He was at age 25 appointed Minister of Mosque No. 7 in Harlem, a position formerly held by Malcolm X. He became known as the "Hip-Hop Minister," noted for his outspoken opposition to the promotion of gangsterism in hip-hop music lyrics, and for defusing potentially violent feuds between rappers.
Tillard left the NOI in 1997 when he was 32 years old, and returned to Christianity. He became a Christian preacher at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, then the Senior Pastor at the Nazarene Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ, in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in New York City, and now the Senior Minister at Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn. He also wrote a memoir, was a radio host, and became an adjunct college professor.
Tillard ran for New York State Senator in 2022, in a Democratic primary campaign for the New York State Senate against incumbent State Senator Jabari Brisport. He was endorsed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams. During that campaign, he became the subject of renewed controversy over his past history of antisemitic, anti-abortion, and anti-LGBTQ remarks. Brisport won the primary.
Tillard was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to Washington, D.C., when he was very young, and grew up in the Christian religion. His biological father was a tailor and part-time jazz musician. After his parents divorced during his childhood, his mother married a Baptist minister. In D.C., he attended Wilson High School and graduated from Francis L. Cardozo High School.
Tillard attended Lincoln University, which was historically Black, transferred to Middlebury College in the fall of 1984, then to Wesleyan University. He then transferred in 1986 to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he became President of the Black Students League and earned a B.A. in African American studies in 1988.
Tillard studied in graduate school at the Harvard Divinity School in the late 1990s, and at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in public administration. He earned a Master of Divinity degree in systematic theology and Christian social ethics at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Theology in practical theology (with a concentration in congregational ministry).
In 1984, Tillard worked as a coordinator of the presidential campaign of Jesse Jackson, first in Philadelphia and then at Jackson's national headquarters in Washington, D.C. Years later he said: "I became discouraged and almost bitter against the political process, because I felt that he was disrespected, but that was in my immaturity."