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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Conrad
4Walter Worrill, Ph.D., who passed away on June 3, 2020; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Dr. Worrill was born in Pasadena, California to
6Walter and Anna Bell Worrill on August 15, 1941; he moved to
7Chicago at age nine; he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1962,
8and he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan; he returned to the U.S.
9in 1963; he earned his Bachelor of Science in Applied
10Behavioral Science from George Williams College in 1968; he
11earned his Master of Arts in Social Service Administration from
12the University of Chicago in 1971; he earned his doctorate in
13Curriculum and Instruction from the University of
14Wisconsin-Madison in 1973; he married Arlina Worrill; and
 
15    WHEREAS, After teaching at George Williams College for two
16years, Dr. Worrill joined the faculty of Northeastern Illinois
17University's Department of Inner City Studies, now Urban
18Community Studies, in 1976; during his 40-year tenure, he
19served as the program's department chair and academic
20coordinator; he served as the director of NEIU's Jacob H.
21Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS) in
22Bronzeville, which he helped establish with Drs. Jacob H.
23Carruthers and Anderson Thompson; together in 1971, they

 

 

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1started an Annual Study Tour at NEIU, which took students to
2countries in Africa and other countries in the African Diaspora
3to learn about the impact of African people on civilizations
4all over the world; he retired from Northeastern Illinois
5University in December of 2018; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Dr. Worrill was the radio host of WVON's "On
7Target" and a key figure in the Great Black Music Project,
8which sponsors the Jazzy Mondays series at the Carruthers
9Center for Inner City Studies; he wrote the syndicated weekly
10column Worrill's World, which was widely read in African
11American newspapers across the country; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Dr. Worrill served in leadership roles in numerous
13organizations, including the National Black United Front and
14the Black United Fund of Illinois (BUFI); he was active with
15the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America
16(N'COBRA) and was a special consultant for the 1995 Million Man
17March; in 1983, he helped to elect Chicago's first Black mayor,
18Harold Washington, and co-founded the Task Force for Black
19Political Empowerment; he traveled to Geneva, Switzerland with
20a delegation to formally charge the U.S. government with
21genocide and human rights violations before the Commission on
22Human Rights in 1997; he also presented the petition to the
23United Nations; he led a 400-member delegation to the U.N.
24World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in

 

 

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12001; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Dr. Worrill had been an athlete in his youth and
3believed opportunities for inner city youth could be gained
4through athletic scholarships; during his retirement, he
5continued to push for an indoor track facility to be built on
6the South Side of Chicago; he fought for the Gately Park Indoor
7Track and Field Facility for 35 years; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Dr. Worrill, writer, educator, activist,
9historian, and former talk show host, was a mentor to many and
10the person most reporters turned to for a perspective on
11matters impacting the African-American community; his voice
12will be greatly missed, and his extraordinary career is best
13expressed with his own words, "I have attempted to provide
14leadership based on the foundation of what others built, in
15hopes that the next generation would build on what we have
16attempted to preserve"; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Dr. Worrill is survived by his wife, Arlina
18Worrill, and his daughters, Femi Skanes, Sobenna Worrill,
19Michelle Worrill, and Kimberley Aisha King; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
21HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
22we mourn the passing of Conrad Walter Worrill, Ph.D. and extend

 

 

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1our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who
2knew and loved him; and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
4presented to the family of Dr. Worrill as an expression of our
5deepest sympathy.