William J Barber II

William J. Barber II is a pastor and social justice advocate building a broad-based grassroots movement grounded in the moral tenets of faith-based communities and the United States Constitution to confront racial and economic inequalities in America today. As pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina (since 1993), and president of the North Carolina conference of the NAACP (2005–2017), Barber approaches social justice through the lens of the ethical and moral treatment of people as laid out in the Christian Bible, the Reconstruction and civil rights movements of the South, and the U.S., Constitution. William J. Barber II received a B.A. (1985) from North Carolina Central University, an M.Div. (1989) from Duke University, and a D.Min. (2003) from Drew University. From 2006 to 2017, Barber was president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP and he has been a member of the national board of the NAACP since 2005. He is also a distinguished visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary.