About Timothy
Timothy N. Welbeck, Esq.
Timothy Welbeck is a leader in the fight for justice and racial equity. Timothy presently serves as the founding Director of the Center for Anti-Racism at Temple University, where he has led the Center from its inception into becoming one of the leading institutions of its kind. A Civil Rights Attorney by training and practice, Timothy is a scholar of law, race, and cultural studies. He earned his J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and his B.A. from Morehouse College, where he graduated cum laude and was awarded the Corella and Bertrand Bonner Scholarship.
Timothy's work as an attorney and scholar has allowed him to contribute to various media outlets, such as: Axios, BBC Radio 4, CBS, CNN, The Huffington Post, NBC, NPR, The Philadelphia Inquirer, REVOLT TV, The Washington Post, VOX, and 900 WURD AM. He has lectured nationally and internationally at esteemed institutions like: Magdalen College of Oxford University, Georgetown University, Swarthmore College, and provided invited keynote addresses at major corporations like 1Hotels, Campbell Soup, and Merrill Lynch. As a contributing writer, Timothy has bylines in The Huffington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, WHYY, and RESPECT Magazine.
As an attorney, Timothy has long been and advocate for justice, using his legal expertise to defend society’s most vulnerable individuals, including survivors of human trafficking, survivors of police brutality, and the indigent. He has also provided crisis management and legal representation to churches and nonprofit organizations across the globe. Consequently, Timothy presently serves as the Civil Rights Attorney for the Philadelphia Chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), where he defends the constitutionally protected civil rights and liberties of those who experience discrimination and harassment based on their faith, race, ethnicity, and/or national origin, particularly members of the Muslim community within Pennsylvania.
Timothy has previously served as an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University. His scholarly work focuses on contemporary issues of racial identity in America, the intersection of racial classifications and the law in the American context, contemporary African American culture, and hip-hop as a microcosm of the Black experience. Timothy's forthcoming book “No City for Young Men: Hip-Hop and the Narrative of Marginalization,” explores how hip-hop communicates the lived experience of persons who live in urban centers across the nation. Timothy has also written several peer-reviewed journal articles including “Specter of Reform: The late Sen. Arlen Specter’s Criminal Justice Reform, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and its Role in Expanding the Modern Prison Industrial Complex,” explores the impact of the infamous 1994 Crime Bill in providing the infrastructure for mass incarceration within the United States. The research, funded by the Arlen Specter Center fellowship, examines how the federalization of criminal law, pursuant to the Commerce Clause, has led to expansive growth in federal law enforcement, imprisonment, and thus setting the foundation for the modern carceral state. Timothy's article “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths to Rhythms: Hip-Hop’s Continuation of the Enduring Tradition of African and African-American Rhetorical Forms and Tropes,” examines hip-hop’s continuation of centuries-old African cultural norms and aesthetic values. It also adopted an Africological approach to provide a foundation for establishing hip-hop’s African origins and its manifestation of African cultural transmissions.
As a hip-hop artist, he has released four full length recordings, shared the stage with national and international acts (Janelle Monáe, Jidenna, EPMD, Dead Prez, and Immortal Technique), won songwriting contests (Session 1 Grand Prize in 2010 John Lennon Songwriting Contest), garnered high compliments from hip-hop legends, industry taste-makers (Sway) and record executives (VP of A&R at Def Jam, Lenny S). His latest work, entitled ‘Trane of Thought, is a live recorded hip-hop album that melds songs from his first two albums the musical stylings of John Coltrane.
Timothy finds his greatest joy and fulfillment at home with his wife and three children.