Willie Barrow

{{short description|American civil rights activist and minister}}

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| honorific_prefix =

| name = Willie Barrow

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| image = Rev. Willie Taplin Barrow.jpg

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| caption = Barrow in 2012

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| birth_name = Willie Beatrice Taplin

| birth_date = December 7, 1924{{efn|Some sources list December 7, 1924{{cite news|last1=Keyser|first1=Jason|title=The Rev. Willie Barrow dies at 90; longtime civil rights activist|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-willie-barrow-20150313-story.html|access-date=March 13, 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=March 12, 2015}} as her birth date, though others cite December 17, 1924.{{cite news|title=Rev. Willie Barrow dies at 90|url=http://abc7chicago.com/news/rev-willie-barrow-dies-at-90/554968/|access-date=March 13, 2015|publisher=ABC 7 Chicago|date=March 12, 2015}}}}

| birth_place = Burton, Texas, U.S.

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| death_date = {{death date and age|2015|3|12|1924|12|7}}

| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

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| resting_place = Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois

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| other_names = {{hlist|Willie B. Taplin Barrow|Little Warrior|Princess of Protest|The High Priestess of Protest}}

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| education = Warner Pacific Theological Seminary
Moody Bible Institute
Central Conservatory of Music
University of Monrovia

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Minister

| years_active = 1935–2015

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| employer =

| organization = Rainbow/PUSH
Chicago, Illinois

| known_for = Civil rights activism, Operation PUSH leadership

| notable_works = How to Get Married and Stay Married (book; 2004){{cite book|last1=Barrow|first1=Dr. Willie|title=How to Get Married and Stay Married|date=2004|publisher=Cool Springs Publishing Inc|isbn=1889860077|pages=118}}

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| spouse = {{marriage|Clyde Barrow|1945|1998|reason=d.}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMQDAAAAMBAJ&dq=willie+barrow&pg=PA52 JET Magazine – Clyde Barrow 75, Husband Of Chicago Activist Rev. Willie Barrow , Dies (July 27, 1998)]

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| children = Keith Barrow

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Willie Beatrice Barrow (née Taplin; December 7, 1924 – March 12, 2015) was an American civil rights activist and minister. Barrow was the co-founder of Operation PUSH, which was named Operation Breadbasket at the time of its creation alongside Rev. Jesse Jackson. In 1984, Barrow became the first woman executive director of a civil rights organization, serving as Push's CEO. Barrow was the godmother of President Barack Obama.{{cite news|title=Civil Rights Icon Rev. Barrow Looks Back|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lonna-saunders/civil-rights-icon-rev-wil_b_795328.html|access-date=12 March 2015|publisher=Huffington Post|date=25 May 2011}}

Biography

Barrow was born Willie Beatrice Taplin in Burton, Texas, to Nelson, a minister, and Octavia Taplin, one of seven children. When she was 12, she organized a demonstration with fellow students to protest that white students were allowed to ride the bus, but black students had to walk to school. Barrow confronted the bus driver and demanded that he let her fellow students ride.{{cite web|title=Reverend Willie T. Barrow|url=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/reverend-willie-t-barrow|website=www.thehistorymakers.com|publisher=The HistoryMakers|access-date=13 March 2015}} When the bus driver confronted her about it she said "Y'all can kill me if you want to. But I'm tired."{{cite web|title=Willie T. Barrow, National Visionary|url=http://www.visionaryproject.org/barrowwillie/#2|website=National Visionary Leadership Project|publisher=American Folklife Project/Library of Congress|access-date=13 March 2015}} When Barrow turned 16, she moved to Portland, Oregon, to study at the Warner Pacific Theological Seminary (now Warner Pacific College). While still a student, Barrow and a group of black residents helped build one of the first black Churches of God in the city; she was ordained as a minister after graduation.{{cite news|title=Rev. Willie T. Barrow, activist and civil rights icon, dies at 90|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-willie-barrow-obit-met-0305-20150312-story.html#page=1|access-date=13 March 2015|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=March 15, 2015}} She started working as a welder during World War II at the Swan Island Shipyard, where she met Clyde Barrow, whom she married in 1945 in Washington.{{cite news|last1=Ihejirika|first1=Maudlyne|last2=O'Donnell|first2=Maureen|title=Rev. Willie T. Barrow, 'Little Warrior,' was civil rights leader, mentor|url=http://chicago.suntimes.com/news-chicago/7/71/409661/rev-willie-t-barrow-little-warrior-civil-rights-leader-mentor|access-date=12 March 2015|newspaper=Chicago Sun Times|date=12 March 2015}}

The couple moved to Chicago in the early 1940s, and Barrow attended the Moody Bible Institute to further her call to service. They lived on the South Side, and Barrow ran the youth choir at [http://www.langleycog.org/index.htm Langley Avenue Church of God]. According to Barrow, she was approached by the minister to do some additional organizing for civil rights movement actions. Barrow campaigned for Harold Washington who became the first Black Mayor of Chicago in 1983. In 1984 and 1988 she worked for Jesse Jackson's Presidential campaign.{{cite news|title=Civil rights leader Rev. Willie Barrow remembered as a soldier for Black America|agency=Examiner.com}}

Awards and achievements

2014 Champion of Freedom Award{{cite web|title=28th Annual Interfaith Celebration, Honors Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|url=http://thechicagocitizen.com/news/2014/jan/22/28th-annual-interfaith-celebration-honors-rev-dr-m/|website=thechicagocitizen.com|access-date=12 March 2015}}
2012 Bill Berry Award{{cite web|title=Rev. Willie T. Barrow, 2012 Bill Berry Award recipient|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-rev-willie-t-barrow-2012-bill-berry-award-recipient-20150312-embeddedvideo.html|newspaper=Chicago Tribune}}
Woman of the Year of Chicago 1969
Image award from League of Black Women
Christian Women's Conference History Makers Award
Doctor of Divinity Degree from Monrovia.
Libreria and Leadership Certificate from Harvard University
Indo-American Democratic Organization's Humanitarian of the Year Award
C.F. Stradford Award for her lifelong work on the front lines of the civil rights movement.{{cite web|title=State's Attorney Anita Alvarez Photo Gallery - 2012 Stradford Awards|date=29 July 2020 |url=http://www.statesattorney.org/gallery_2012stradford_02.html}}
2006 Black Heritage Awardee{{cite web|title=The 16th Annual Black Heritage Awards|url=http://www.mahoganyheritage.org/blackheritageawards.html|access-date=14 March 2015}}

Organizing

In the 1950s she worked with Martin Luther King and other Chicago ministers and activists as a field organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.{{cite news|title=Remembering Rev. Willie Barrow|url=http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2015/03/12/remembering-rev-willie-barrow|access-date=13 March 2015|agency=Chicago Tonight|date=March 12, 2015}} In the 1960s she helped organize the Chicago chapter of Operation Breadbasket with Rev. Jesse Jackson.{{cite web|title=Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle|date=3 July 2017 |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/operation-breadbasket|publisher=Stanford University - Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project|access-date=4 December 2019}} She opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and led a delegation to North Vietnam in 1968.{{cite news|last1=Davis|first1=Andrew|title=Willie Barrow: 8 Decades of Activism, a son lost to AIDS|url=http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Willie-Barrow-8-Decades-of-Activism-a-son-lost-to-AIDS/6989.html|access-date=13 March 2015|work=Windy City Times|date=29 December 2004}} She joined the National Urban League in 1943 and the National Council of Negro Women in 1945.{{cite book|last1=Murphy|first1=Larry G.|last2=Melton|first2=J. Gordon|last3=Ward|first3=Gary L.|title=Encyclopedia of African American Religions|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135513382|page=72|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fxsmAgAAQBAJ&q=National+Urban+League+National+Council+of+Negro+Women+willie+barrow&pg=PA72}}{{cite book|last1=Aaseng|first1=Nathan|title=African-American Religious Leaders|date=2003|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9781438107813|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwDfwCVbiiUC&q=National+Urban+League+National+Council+of+Negro+Women+willie+barrow&pg=PA15}} She was the godmother of President Barack Obama. In 1973 she protested social services cuts by the Nixon administration.{{cite book|last1=Aaseng|first1=Nathan|title=African-American religious leaders A-Z of African Americans|date=2003|publisher=Facts On File|location=New York, NY|isbn=9781438107813|page=15}}

= Intersectional activism=

Barrow additionally was an activist for the LGBT community, which included fighting for HIV/AIDS victims. She also advocated for fair labor practices, took an anti-Vietnam war stance, and was vocal about women's rights. In a 1987 interview on Chicago Tonight she said, "You see ministers, they would rather have a minister who could not articulate and perhaps may not have even been called ... than to have an articulate woman that knows something about the rebirth of Christ and knows about the natural birth and the new birth. They would rather try to have a man articulate than a woman. ... As Jesse [Jackson] grew, his vision grew. Anytime that there was a committee was formed, it would be all men. I'd say 'Jesse, you haven an unbalanced committee. You've got to have some women.' ... He kept putting women on committees, kept making them managers ... then it became a habit, a part of his vision."

Significant events attended

1963 March on Washington
Bloody Sunday (1965)
She participated in the Project AIDS Memorial Quilt as acknowledged by The President and First Lady.{{cite web|last1=Obama|first1=Michelle|last2=Obama|first2=Barack|title=Statement by the President on the Passing of Reverend Willie T. Barrow|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/03/12/statement-president-passing-reverend-willie-t-barrow|access-date=13 March 2015|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|date=2015-03-12}}
State of Illinois Center against the school strike on Sept. 22, 1987
Democratic National Convention in Denver on Aug. 26, 2008 as a superdelegate{{cite web|title=Obama supporter|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-barrow-wre0027482206-20080826-photo.html|publisher=Chicago Tribune|access-date=14 March 2015}}
2001 March against U.S. Naval bombing in Vieques, Puerto Rico
Million Family March{{cite web|title=Million Family March - C-Span|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?159790-1/million-family-march|location=Washington D.C.|format=Video}}
She spoke on January 6, 1994 at a Violence Against Women forum. Her stance was that it starts within the family and crosses racial boundaries and financial boundaries.{{cite web|title=JANUARY 6, 1994 Violence Against Women|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?53577-1/violence-women|publisher=C-Span|access-date=14 March 2015}}

Later years and death

Each Saturday she would participate in demonstrations and she participated weekly in Rainbow/PUSH's events. She helped many people by writing checks to cover college tuition for them. She mentored over a hundred people in PUSH, helping them to move on to the next stage of the movement. Barrow was co-pastor of the Vernon Park Church of God in Chicago. She helped raise money for assisted living development in the south and to fund after school programs. She had focused on gun violence in Chicago and changes to the Voting Rights Act that were taking away rights that the Selma marches helped create.{{cite news|last1=Gordon|first1=Taylor|title=Civil Rights' 'Little Warrior,' the Rev. Willie Barrow, Passes Away, But Today's Black Youth Must Never Forget Her Message|url=http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/03/13/civil-rights-little-warrior-rev-willie-barrow-passes-away-todays-black-youth-must-never-forget-message/|access-date=14 March 2015|publisher=Atlanta Blackstar}} Barrow died of respiratory failure on March 12, 2015, at age 90 in Chicago. Following her death, A tribute to her life was held at Operation PUSH headquarters ; Her funeral at her church Vernon Park Church of God.