William Barber II

== Education and family ==
Barber was born in [[Indianapolis]] to Eleanor Barber and William J. Barber, Sr,<ref>{{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 }}</ref> who then moved their young family to [[Washington County, North Carolina]], to participate in the [[school integration in the United States|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.<ref name=WITHpod>{{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}}</ref>

Barber was elected president of the local NAACP youth council in 1978, at the age of 15.<ref name=NYer>{{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 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=WITHpod /> 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.<ref name=Speaker2020>{{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 }}</ref><ref name="BillMoyers2013">{{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}}</ref>

In 1984, he met a first-year NCCU student, Rebecca McLean, at a march in support of [[Jesse Jackson 1984 presidential campaign|Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign]]; they married three years later.<ref name=NYer />

In his early 20s, Barber was diagnosed with [[ankylosing spondylitis]], which has affected his spine ever since.<ref name="MotherJonesApril2014" /> In December 2023, employees at [[AMC Theatres]] in [[Greenville, South Carolina|Greenville]] refused a [[reasonable accommodation]] for his condition.  He had been attending a screening of ''[[The Color Purple (2023 film)|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 [[Trespass to land|trespassing]]. The Chairman and CEO [[Adam Aron]] issued an apology the next day.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>