William Barber II

Barber was born in Indianapolis to Eleanor Barber and William J. Barber, Sr,{{cite web |url=https://disciples.org/people/north-carolina-disciples-pastor-chosen-for-national-naacp-board/ |title=North Carolina Disciples Pastor Chosen For National NAACP Board |website=Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) |date=March 11, 2009 |access-date=August 5, 2019 |archive-date=August 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805233405/https://disciples.org/people/north-carolina-disciples-pastor-chosen-for-national-naacp-board/ |url-status=dead }} who then moved their young family to Washington County, North Carolina, to participate in the desegregation of the public school system there: his mother as a secretary/office manager, his father as a physics teacher, and young Barber as a kindergarten student.{{cite podcast|url= https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-is-this-happening-with-chris-hayes/id1382983397?i=1000444575849|title= Building a Movement with Rev. Dr. William Barber II|website= Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes|publisher= NBC News|host= Hayes, Chris|date= July 16, 2019|access-date= August 5, 2019|archive-date= August 5, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190805233406/https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-is-this-happening-with-chris-hayes/id1382983397?i=1000444575849|url-status= live}}

Barber was elected president of the local NAACP youth council in 1978, at the age of 15.{{cite news |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/william-barber-takes-on-poverty-and-race-in-the-age-of-trump |date=May 14, 2018 |title=William Barber Takes on Poverty and Race in the Age of Trump |author=Cobb, Jelani |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=August 5, 2019 |archive-date=August 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829135721/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/william-barber-takes-on-poverty-and-race-in-the-age-of-trump |url-status=live }} At 17, he became student body president of his high school, the first president to serve the integrated school for an entire year, breaking the previous tradition of alternating a black president & white president for each semester. He then enrolled at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and became student government president at age 19. He received his bachelor's degree in political science from NCCU, cum laude in 1985; a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University in 1989; and a doctorate from Drew University with a concentration in public policy and pastoral care in 2003.{{cite web |url=https://www.wesleyan.edu/commencement2020/bios.html |title=188th Commencement 2020 |website=Wesleyan University |access-date=January 1, 2020 |archive-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604023606/https://www.wesleyan.edu/commencement2020/bios.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://billmoyers.com/content/rev-william-j-barber/|title=Activists to Watch: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber|last=Dreier|first=Peter|date=October 24, 2013|publisher=Bill Moyers & Company|access-date=July 28, 2014|archive-date=July 30, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730021437/http://billmoyers.com/content/rev-william-j-barber/|url-status=live}}

In 1984, he met a first-year NCCU student, Rebecca McLean, at a march in support of Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign; they married three years later.

In his early 20s, Barber was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, which has affected his spine ever since. In December 2023, employees at AMC Theatres in Greenville refused a reasonable accommodation for his condition. He had been attending a screening of The Color Purple with his 90-year-old mother. Police were called on Dr. Barber when he objected and he agreed to leave or be cited for trespassing. AMC Theatres Chairman and CEO Adam Aron issued an apology the next day.{{Cite web |last=LaBorde |first=Olivia |date=2023-12-28 |title=AMC Theatres apologizes after civil rights leader says he was kicked out of a North Carolina movie theater |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/27/us/amc-apology-civil-rights-leader-north-carolina-theater/index.html |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=2023-12-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231228072223/https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/27/us/amc-apology-civil-rights-leader-north-carolina-theater/index.html |url-status=live }}

Beginning in April 2013, Barber led regular "Moral Mondays" civil-rights protests in North Carolina's state capital, Raleigh.{{cite news|author=Rab, Lisa|magazine=Mother Jones|title=Meet the Preacher Behind Moral Mondays|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/william-barber-moral-monday-north-carolina|date=April 14, 2014|access-date=July 27, 2014|archive-date=July 15, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715122846/http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/william-barber-moral-monday-north-carolina|url-status=live}} The Wall Street Journal credited Barber's NAACP chapter with forming a coalition in 2007 named Historic Thousands on Jones Street People's Assembly, composed of 93 North Carolina advocacy groups. "With this changing demographic, we had to operate in coalition", Barber was quoted as saying.{{cite news|title=U.S. Nears Racial Milestone|author=Dougherty, Conor|url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704312104575298512006681060|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=June 11, 2010|page=A3|access-date=July 27, 2014|archive-date=July 15, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715223859/http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704312104575298512006681060?|url-status=live}} Historian and professor Timothy Tyson named Barber, "the most important progressive political leader in this state in generations", saying that he "built a statewide interracial fusion political coalition that has not been seriously attempted since 1900".{{cite magazine |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-2385597691 |title=Rev. William Barber: The Gospel Truth |last=Wiggins |first=Lori |magazine=The Crisis |date=January 1, 2011 |access-date=July 28, 2014 }} An article in the Michigan State Law Review,{{cite journal |title=Confronting Race: How a Confluence of Social Movements Convinced North Carolina To Go Where the McCleskey Court Wouldn't |journal=Michigan State Law Review |date=July 12, 2011 |last1=O'Brien |first1=Barbara |last2=Grosso |first2=Catherine M. |volume=2011 |pages=463–504 |url=http://www.msulawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2011-3_Grosso-OBrien.pdf |access-date=July 28, 2014 |archive-date=July 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728134042/http://www.msulawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2011-3_Grosso-OBrien.pdf |url-status=live }} "Confronting Race: How a Confluence of Social Movements Convinced North Carolina to Go where the McCleskey Court Wouldn't" credits him with bringing together a statewide political coalition. He "has become as well known [in North Carolina] as [Governor] Pat McCrory and Republican leaders of the House and Senate", according to a 2013 Huffington Post profile of him.{{cite web|last=Shimron|first=Yonat|title=Rev. William Barber II: Moral Monday Leader In North Carolina Is Pastor, NAACP Chapter President|website=The Huffington Post|date=June 25, 2013|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/rev-william-barber-moral-mondays_n_3495176.html|access-date=July 30, 2014|archive-date=August 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812033329/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/rev-william-barber-moral-mondays_n_3495176.html|url-status=live}} He traveled with NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous to meet with Georgia prison officials.{{cite web |url=http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/president-jealous-and-naacp-leaders-visit-john-mcneil |title=President Jealous and NAACP Leaders Visit John McNeil |newspaper=NAACP |date=September 10, 2012 |access-date=August 7, 2014 |archive-date=August 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808132713/http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/president-jealous-and-naacp-leaders-visit-john-mcneil |url-status=live }}

In 2014, he founded Repairers of the Breach, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization "formed to educate and train religious and other leaders of faith who will pursue policies and organizational strategies for the good of the whole and to educate the public about connections between shared religious faith".{{Cite web|url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/46-3332424|title=Guidestar Profile|website=Guidestar|access-date=September 1, 2017|archive-date=September 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901203219/https://www.guidestar.org/profile/46-3332424|url-status=live}}

In 2016, he delivered a speech at the Democratic National Convention; the address was described as rousing and was well received.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/28/the-rev-william-barber-dropped-the-mic/|title=The Rev. William Barber dropped the mic|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=July 29, 2016|archive-date=July 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730232009/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/28/the-rev-william-barber-dropped-the-mic/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/americans-whod-never-heard-of-reverend-william-barber-ii-wont-be-able-to-forget-him-after-last-night/|title=Americans Who'd Never Heard of Reverend William Barber II Won't Be Able to Forget Him After Last Night|date=July 28, 2016|newspaper=The Nation|issn=0027-8378|access-date=July 29, 2016|archive-date=August 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814205216/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/americans-whod-never-heard-of-reverend-william-barber-ii-wont-be-able-to-forget-him-after-last-night/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/rev-william-barber-rattles-windows-shakes-walls-dnc-n619456|title=Rev. William Barber rattles the windows and shakes the walls at the DNC|date=July 28, 2016|publisher=NBC News|access-date=July 29, 2016|archive-date=July 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730160218/http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/rev-william-barber-rattles-windows-shakes-walls-dnc-n619456|url-status=live}}

On May 30, 2017, Barber was arrested after refusing to leave the North Carolina State Legislative Building during a protest over health care legislation. The following month, a state magistrate banned Barber and the other protesters from entering the Legislative Building. Barber and his lawyers contend that the ban is unconstitutional, because the state constitution guarantees citizens the right to assemble to communicate with their legislators.{{Cite web|url=http://wnct.com/2017/06/17/naacps-rev-barber-banned-from-legislative-building/|title=NAACP's Rev. Barber banned from Legislative Building|publisher=WNCT|date=June 17, 2017|access-date=June 19, 2017|archive-date=June 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618035120/http://wnct.com/2017/06/17/naacps-rev-barber-banned-from-legislative-building/|url-status=live}}

In May 2017, Barber announced he would step down from the state NAACP presidency to lead "a new 'Poor People's Campaign'",{{cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/rev-william-barber-is-bringing-mlks-poor-peoples-campaign-back-to-life/|title=The Rev. William Barber Is Bringing MLK's Poor People's Campaign Back to Life|last=McClain|first=Dani|magazine=The Nation|date=May 19, 2017|access-date=June 7, 2017|archive-date=May 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522174346/https://www.thenation.com/article/rev-william-barber-is-bringing-mlks-poor-peoples-campaign-back-to-life/|url-status=live}} named Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival in honour of the original 1968 campaign founded by Martin Luther King Jr.

In July 2021, Barber called for a "season of nonviolent direct action" to bring attention to threats to democracy in the U.S.. He was arrested alongside hundreds of others in Washington, D.C., on August 2 in a peaceful protest for voting rights and higher wages.{{Cite news|last=Quillin|first=Martha|date=August 3, 2021|title=Rev. Barber, hundreds more arrested at DC protest for voting rights, higher wages|work=The News & Observer|url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article253205123.html|access-date=August 4, 2021|archive-date=August 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804194047/https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article253205123.html|url-status=live}}

On April 28, 2025, Barber was arrested while praying in the United States Capitol rotunda. He had delivered a sermon on the Capitol steps and delivered a Moral Monday address at the U.S. Supreme Court earlier in the day.{{cite news|last=Bowden|first=John|date=April 29, 2025|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/william-barber-trump-christian-task-force-b2741146.html|title=Activist pastor who has criticized Trump arrested while praying inside Capitol|work=The Independent|access-date=April 28, 2025}}

File:William Barber II with Kamala Harris.jpg in 2018]]

Barber was awarded the 2006 Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Esq. Award for legal activism, the highest award in the NAACP for legal redress for advocacy, he was the 2008 recipient of the Thalheimer Award for most programmatic NAACP State Conference, and in 2010 he won the National NAACP Kelly M. Alexander Humanitarian Award.

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue awarded him the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2010—a North Carolina citizenship award presented to outstanding North Carolinians who have a proven record of service to the state.{{Cite news |last=Quillin |first=Martha |date=December 29, 2018 |title=The News & Observer’s Tar Heel of the Year |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article221902085.html |work=The News & Observer}}

In 2017, Barber was awarded an honorary doctorate from Drew University, his alma mater, and also delivered the university's sesquicentennial address at commencement exercises. Barber was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Occidental College preceding his speech (which was also livestreamed) to students, alumni, and community members in Thorne Hall.

In 2018, Barber was named a MacArthur Fellow for "building broad-based fusion coalitions as part of a moral movement to confront racial and economic inequality".{{cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/1005/|title=William J. Barber II - MacArthur Foundation|website=www.macfound.org|access-date=October 4, 2018|archive-date=October 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004205051/https://www.macfound.org/fellows/1005/|url-status=live}}

Barber is a senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation, an American non-partisan research foundation.{{Cite news |title=William J. Barber II |url=https://kettering.org/fellow/william-j-barber-ii/ |access-date=2025-03-06 |work=Kettering Foundation |language=en-US}}

• Preaching Through Unexpected Pain (self-published)
• Forward Together: A Moral Message for the Nation (Chalice Press, 2014, {{ISBN|0827244940}}).{{Cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8272-4494-8|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Forward Together: A Moral Message for the Nation by Rev. William J. Barber II with Barbara Zelter.|access-date=July 29, 2016|archive-date=October 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013054020/http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8272-4494-8|url-status=live}}
• The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement (Beacon Press, 2016, {{ISBN|0807083607}}){{Cite web|url=http://religiondispatches.org/a-third-reconstruction-rev-william-barber-lifts-the-trumpet/|title=A Third Reconstruction? Rev. William Barber Lifts the Trumpet|last=Laarman|first=Peter|date=January 14, 2016|website=Religion Dispatches|publisher=USC Annenberg|language=en-US|access-date=July 29, 2016|archive-date=June 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618112654/http://religiondispatches.org/a-third-reconstruction-rev-william-barber-lifts-the-trumpet/|url-status=live}}
• Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing (Beacon Press, 2018, {{ISBN|9780807025604}}){{cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/561491/revive-us-again-by-the-reverend-dr-william-barber-ii-with-rev-dr-liz-theoharis-and-rev-dr--rick-lowery/9780807025604/ |title=Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing |website=Penguin Random House |access-date=August 5, 2019 |archive-date=August 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805235500/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/561491/revive-us-again-by-the-reverend-dr-william-barber-ii-with-rev-dr-liz-theoharis-and-rev-dr--rick-lowery/9780807025604/ |url-status=live }}
• We Are Called To Be A Movement (Workman Publishing Co., Inc., 2020), {{ISBN|978-1-5235-1124-2}}
• White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy (WW Norton & Co, 2024), {{ISBN|978-1-3240-9487-6}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite news

|title=Rev. Barber, The Voice Behind Moral Mondays

|date=June 25, 2013

|newspaper=Chapelboro (WCHL)

|url=https://chapelboro.com/news/state-government/rev-barber-the-voice-behind-the-moral-monday-movement}}

• [http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-rev-william-barber-leads-a-new-era-of-progressive-politics-in-north-carolina/Content?oid=3681510 "The Rev. William Barber leads a new era of progressive politics in North Carolina"], Raleigh-Cary-Durham-Chapel Hill Indy Week, July 24, 2013
• [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/dissent/v061/61.1.butler.html Anthea Butler, "The Black Church: From Prophecy to Prosperity"], Dissent magazine, Volume 61, Number 1, Winter 2014, pp. 38–41
• [http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-11/defending-diversity Jesse James De Conto, "Defending Diversity: North Carolina Churches Fight for Integrated Schools"], The Christian Century, Vol. 128, No. 25
• [http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1n59m369#page-1 Ann Moss Joyner and Ben Marsh, "Institutionalizing Disparities in Education: A Case Study of Segregation in Wayne County, North Carolina High Schools"], Interactions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies 7(1) 2011
• [https://archives.law.nccu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1663&context=ncclr Joshua Cristobal Alex, Carey Alexander, Tanene Allison, and Genevieve Gazon, "Why We Can't Wait: Reversing the Retreat on Civil Rights"], 30 N.C. Central Law Review 224 (2007–2008).

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{{commons category}}

• Speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw3PUghqlAA CNN video] and [http://www.qotd.org/long-form/william-barber-dnc-speech transcript at Quotes of the Day]
• {{C-SPAN|21995}}
• [https://greenleafchristiandoc.org/ Greenleaf Christian Church]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, William}}

Category:1963 births

Category:Living people

Category:Activists for African-American civil rights

Category:African-American Christian clergy

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Category:Drew University alumni

Category:Duke Divinity School alumni

Category:MacArthur Fellows

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Category:People from Goldsboro, North Carolina

Category:Activists from Indianapolis

Category:Protestants from Indiana