Herbert T. Miller, a distinguished social services and religious leader, organizer, and fundraiser, was born Herbert Tise Miller on July 16, 1900, in Ford, Kentucky. He spent his formative years in Cincinnati, Ohio, alongside his sister, Bertha Miller Anderson. His parents, Cyrus D. Miller and Georgie C. Hampton Miller, instilled in him the value of community service, shaping his future endeavors.
Miller attended the Colored Industrial School in Cincinnati and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1924. He also pursued specialized studies in management at the International YMCA College, now known as Springfield College, located in Springfield, Massachusetts.
In 1925, Miller served as the membership secretary at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) on West 135th Street in Harlem. The following year, 1926, he was promoted to Executive Secretary of the Colored Work for the YMCA in Toledo, Ohio. This made him the youngest person in the United States to hold that title as well as the first YMCA Executive Secretary for African Americans in Toledo, a city at the time with a population of 1,500 Black residents. He also helped form Alpha Xi Lambda, the Graduate Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. in Toledo in 1928.
In 1944, Miller became the first African American to serve as the foreman of the Kings County (Brooklyn) Grand Jury in New York State. He was appointed by Judge Samuel Simon Leibowitz who in the early 1930s was recognized for defending the Scottsboro Boys. There, Miller managed the grand jury’s proceedings. In 1945, Miller was one of the 11 charter members of the Gamma Iota Lambda Chapter, the second graduate chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. established in Brooklyn. Miller served as its first chapter president and led the chapter in addressing issues affecting public schools, health, and justice as well as developing educational programs for veterans returning from World War II within the Brooklyn community. Miller’s exceptional service was acknowledged in 1948 when he was named Brooklyn’s Most Valuable Citizen in a New York Amsterdam News Poll.
In 1952, Miller transitioned from the Carlton YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, to serve as the associate secretary for the Manhattan division of the Protestant Council of the City of New York. In this capacity, he played a crucial role in enhancing social services and mission work across various churches, significantly bolstering the city’s outreach endeavors.
From 1954 to 1956, Miller served as the Associate Director of the Cleveland Ohio Church Federation. In 1963, he became the Executive Administrator of the New York Baptist Societies and the following year, he began serving as the Executive Secretary of the Manhattan division of the Protestant Council of the City of New York.
Miller was also a Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity member, commonly called the Boulé, the first Greek-letter fraternity founded by professional African American men. In 1970, he was elected Grand Sire Archon (national president) by the Grand Boulé at its convention in Miami.
Herbert T. Miller, nicknamed “The Human Dynamo,” was married to Willie Belle Harper. He passed away on January 19, 1977, in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the age of 76. His enduring legacy of service, innovation, and inspiration continues to resonate today.
