Deacon Art Miller, the former director of the Office for Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Hartford and a one time schoolmate of Emmitt Till, spoke to Middle and Upper School students in special assemblies to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January.

Miller told boys that he grew up on the southside of Chicago and was 10-years-old when Till, his brother’s classmate, was brutally murdered in Mississippi. The 1955 lynching horrified the community and the nation, and led Miller into a lifelong fight against hatred and racism. 

Miller, who is also a Vietnam War veteran, sat with students at assemblies at both the Upper and Middle School assemblies, where he spoke about bullying, being an upstander, and being courageous despite being full of fear.

 “I felt good when I was standing up for what I felt was right, but I was very much afraid,” he said. “It takes courage.”

Miller serves as a deacon at St. Mary’s Church in Simsbury, Conn.