Civil Rights Activities
Dorothy Tillman was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1947. She joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) as a trainee and field staff organizer in 1963. Tillman marched with King and was among the SCLC Field Staff to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in the Selma to Montgomery marches on 7 March 1965.
She had her first involvement in Chicago politics later in 1965 when King sent her there to campaign for better housing, education and employment conditions for blacks. This campaign marked the start of King's effort to improve socio-economic conditions for blacks. Tillman was involved in organizing King's move into a Chicago tenement in early 1966 and the launch of his campaign in July 1966.
While in Chicago, Tillman met her husband, blues drummer Jimmy Lee Tillman. The Tillmans moved to San Francisco shortly after their marriage and became involved in a successful campaign to improve public transport services to their neighborhood.
The Tillmans later returned to Chicago where Dorothy Tillman became involved in educational issues. She founded the Parent Equalizers of Chicago, which eventually became active in 300 schools across the city, setting the groundwork for school reform in Chicago. The momentum created by several successful grassroots campaigns Tillman help organize led to the election of Chicago’s first African American mayor, Harold Washington.
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