معرفی
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II serves as Professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. He is also president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival. His academic career is deeply intertwined with his decades-long civil rights activism and religious leadership.
Barber earned his BA in political science from North Carolina Central University (cum laude, 1985), Master of Divinity from Duke University (1989), and Doctor of Ministry with concentration in public policy and pastoral care from Drew University (2003). He has received honorary doctorates from both Drew University and Occidental College for his contributions to social justice.
His research and activism focus on the intersection of moral theology, public policy, and social justice, particularly through the lens of the Poor People's Campaign and Moral Mondays movement. Barber pioneered 'fusion politics'—building multiracial, cross-class coalitions that address systemic issues of poverty, racism, and economic inequality. His work emphasizes moral framing of political issues rather than partisan approaches, creating what he terms a 'moral revival' movement.
His publications reveal a consistent trajectory from grassroots activism to national movement building, with increasing focus on structural economic justice and racial equality. The evolution from Moral Mondays to the national Poor People's Campaign demonstrates his strategic shift from state-level to national organizing, while his most recent work on 'White Poverty' challenges conventional narratives about race and class in American politics.
- 2006 Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Esq. Award for legal activism
- 2008 Thalheimer Award for most programmatic NAACP State Conference
- 2010 National NAACP Kelly M. Alexander Humanitarian Award
- 2010 Order of the Long Leaf Pine from North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue
- 2017 honorary doctorate from Drew University
- 2018 honorary doctorate from Occidental College
- 2018 MacArthur Fellow for 'building broad-based fusion coalitions as part of a moral movement to confront racial and economic inequality'
As senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation and national board member of the NAACP (where he chairs its legislative political action committee), Barber has secured significant institutional support for his movement-building work. His leadership of Repairers of the Breach has trained hundreds of religious and secular leaders in moral organizing techniques, while his founding of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale formalizes the academic dimension of his work.
Barber leads the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School and co-chairs the national Poor People's Campaign. His organization Repairers of the Breach serves as a training ground for moral movement leaders, while his ongoing collaboration with the Kettering Foundation supports research into democratic participation and civic engagement.
