Nyle Fort is a minister, organizer, and scholar based in Newark, NJ. He received a BA in English from Morehouse College and a Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. Nyle has worked in the fields of education, criminal justice, and youth development for nearly a decade in various capacities including Youth Pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, American Friends field worker at the Union County Juvenile Detention Center, and International Fellow at the St. Andrew Centre for Human Development in Southern India.
An activist committed to global transformative justice, Nyle brings his national experience and international lens to his local work. He recently travelled to Ferguson, Missouri to help build the Movement for Black Lives. Upon his return home, Nyle created 7 Last Words: Strange Fruit Speaks, a liturgy commemorating the last words of black people killed by police and vigilantes. In addition, he established Newark Books and Breakfast, a monthly program providing free books and breakfast to local youth and families. Most recently, Nyle travelled to Amsterdam, historic Palestine, and the Vatican in the effort to build solidarity across social movements.
In addition to his organizing work, Nyle has spoken at various academic, cultural, and religious institutions including Harvard University, University of Amsterdam, the Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz Center (former Audubon Ballroom), and the Riverside Church. His writings are featured in several academic presses including Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy and Socialism and Democracy as well as various popular media outlets including The Guardian, The Nation, and The Root – where he made its 2015 100 list alongside Kendrick Lamar and Ta-nehisi Coates. Nyle is currently a Ph.D student in Religion and African American studies at Princeton University and a Ford Pre-Doctoral Fellow.
