Daniel T. Tillman, who was born in Wadesboro in 1927, was appointed as a circuit court judge in Saint Louis, Missouri, in November of 1972 when he was 43 years old. His parents were the late Daniel Tillman, whose occupation was as a carpenter, and his mother was Nellie Mask Tillman, who was a school teacher for many years.

After graduating in 1954 from Georgetown University School of Law, in only the second class to accept African-Americans, he returned to North Carolina, studied for the bar exam and passed. After deciding he did not want to practice law in North Carolina, he moved to St. Louis.

After passing the Missouri Bar, he practiced law and later was named to the Board of Police Commissioners. He got a job as an assistant circuit attorney. In 1970, Gov. Warren E. Hearnes named Judge Tillman to the bench on the St. Louis Circuit Court. There were relatively few black judges at the time. Judge Tillman retired in 1997 after 27 years on the bench. He was president of the Missouri Trial Judges Association and served on the boards of the Urban League and Harris-Stowe State University.

Daniel Tillman worked his way through A&T College in Greensboro by working as a waiter at a Greensboro Country Club. He continued his study of law at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and paying for his education as a waiter at a local seafood restaurant. He received his law degree in 1954. In 1962, he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Southern Illinois University.

At the time of his appointment as circuit court judge, Judge Tillman told a newspaper reporter at the Saint Louis Globe-Democrat that he believed his new position might inspire others from poor families to work harder for an education. Tillman was married and the father of two children. His mother, Nellie Tillman, had moved to live with her son at the time he was appointed in 1972.

Tillman was born Aug. 30, 1927 and died on July 23, 2014 and was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Saint Louis County in Lemay Township. His parents, Daniel F. Tillman (1883-1952) and Nellie Mask Tillman (1898-1999) are buried at Westview Memorial Park on U.S. Highway 74 West outside of Wadesboro. His mother was 101 years young when she passed away.

Tillman’s brother, Dr. Otis Tillman, became a doctor in the High Point area in 1958 and worked hard at his profession for 46 years before retiring in 2004. I’ll talk much more about Dr. Tillman in another newspaper issue.

My resources used to compile this article are from pages 295 and 296 of “History of Anson County NC 1750-1976” published in 1976 and the Find a Grave website.

Steve Bailey is employed with the Anson County Historical Society and has specialized in local African-American family history for 20 years.

https://ansonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Steve-Bailey-toned-1.jpg

Steve Bailey

For the Record