1A in Action: The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Organizing for Change

Had life unfolded a different way, the title “Reverend” might not precede “Dr. William J. Barber II.” If you know his name, it’s possibly from his work leading protest movements to enfranchise the working class, speaking out about civil rights issues, many media appearances from “The Daily Show” to CNN, or as the author of multiple books such as “White Poverty” in 2024.

Despite this modern recognition of Barber’s connection to the clergy, he tried to skirt a life in ministry, saying he wanted to be a lawyer while in college at North Carolina Central University.

But considering his family’s deep ties to pastoral work, which he traces back hundreds of years on both his father’s and mother’s sides, it makes sense that he received, in his words, “a call, a pull” to ministry.

But it’s Barber’s connection to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that has made Barber a significant name in the modern civil rights field. King began the Poor People’s Campaign shortly before he was assassinated in 1968 to highlight the plight of the working class and economically disadvantaged people — regardless of race — in the United States. In 2018, Barber led a renewed effort to bring back the Poor People’s Campaign and continue King’s work.

The full title of the campaign calls it “A National Call for Moral Revival.”

Morality is something Barber connects to his work leading protests and demonstrations that call on state and federal officials to make public policy with poor and low-wage workers in mind — actions that exemplify our First Amendment freedoms of assembly, speech and petition. Morality was also the driving force behind his cause of Moral Mondays, which launched in 2013 in his home state of North Carolina.

The lead-up to the movement to gather people at the state capitol came from what Barber says was the legislature’s efforts to roll back Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act and enact other policies that he saw as harmful to working-class people.

“We decided that if they were going to crucify healthcare, crucify voting rights, crucify living wages, crucify employment, we had to have a witness,” Barber says. “So we didn't have the majority (of votes in the legislature), but we had our moral voices. We had our right to protest.”

He says it started with “about 50 people” who went into the state capitol, “and about 17 of us held up placards with quotes from the Constitution — state and national — and scriptures.”

That was the first of many more Moral Mondays to come.

Editor's note: This profile is part of an ongoing series, “1A in Action,” which highlights individuals who fought for their — and other people's — First Amendment freedoms.

What’s at stake:

The First Amendment includes protections for the freedoms of speech, assembly and petition, specifically, “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” These three freedoms are often intertwined into acts of protest, which is not directly mentioned in the First Amendment but that courts have said is a protected right. And it’s these freedoms that formed the foundation of Barber’s Moral Mondays movement.

Government officials don’t have to act on or even listen to your protest or the grievances you bring through a petition or assembly. But people are free to speak their minds, gather to plan and carry out protests, and ask for change without being punished for doing so.

RESOURCE: How to file a petition: A step-by-step guide

What happened:

Through his decades of activism, Barber says he’s been arrested “almost 20 times,” including during the Moral Monday demonstrations of 2013 and 2014.

“One person had cerebral palsy in a wheelchair, and they arrested us for free speech, said it was illegal and locked us up, and we didn't agree with it,” Barber says of one instance at the North Carolina Capitol. “We fought it. We wouldn't plead guilty.” Ultimately, some at that protest were convicted of misdemeanors related to trespassing and violating building rules, while others were acquitted or agreed to perform community service to have the charges dropped.

“The next week people came and the next week, and by the end of the summer, Moral Monday grew to thousands of people, more than 2,000 people,” Barber recalls.

Barber calls the effort to rally thousands of people to protest and petition the state government “a massive fusion coalition” and “the largest protest of its kind at a state capitol, larger than even in the Civil Rights Movement” of the 1960s.

He says that in 2014, one demonstration and march in Raleigh saw more than 80,000 people attend.

Freedom Forum named Barber a Free Expression Award recipient in June 2024, recognizing his decades of motivating and activating people to use their First Amendment freedoms.

“The Bible teaches that the power of life and death is in the tongue,” Barber said in a speech accepting the award. “If you want something to die — if you want freedom to die, if you want justice to die, if you want love to die — stop talking about it.”

What the Rev. Dr. William Barber says:

Barber recounts a time when he and others were trying to meet with state legislators in their offices to talk about their requests and issues with policymaking (wanting to petition their representatives) but were denied.

“And then we decided to protest,” he says.

A security official told the group they were too loud while inside the capitol.

“I asked him, what is the decibel level of the First Amendment, the right to free speech? Tell me what the level is, and we'll stay at that level. What does the Constitution say is the level, how loud can you be? And he says, ‘I don't know.’ I said, well, if you can't tell us how loud we can be, how can you tell us we're too loud? And nowhere in the Constitution does it give a volume, like where free speech can go this high.”

Why it matters to you:

Public officials can set reasonable limits on where, when, and how people protest, including in public buildings where work is being done. And if protests disrupt certain work or important government functions, they can be limited. These limits are sometimes called “time, place and manner restrictions.”

However, there is no national standard that says people can only speak or protest at a certain level or can only protest during certain narrow times. What matters is that any limits on the First Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly, and petition are implemented equally for all speakers without regard to the message (i.e., are “content neutral”) and are not so restrictive that they make any protest practically impossible.

RELATED: Why the government usually can’t limit the content of your speech

The Rev. Dr. William Barber’s inspiration:

“You can never turn down the volume on free speech,” Barber says, reminding people that they have the power to affect change by using their voices and physical presence to petition government.

He says that if you “want a democracy that’s worth fighting for” then people should speak up and use their collective voice. “Because nothing has ever changed when good was quiet, while wrong was railing and loud.”

Ask an expert:

Gene Policinski, Freedom Forum’s senior fellow for the First Amendment, offered this analysis of Barber’s work:

Speaking freely even when some — or even most — don’t want to hear what is being said is essential to self-governance. Throughout our nation's history, the majority has often been mistaken. The freedom to object and seek change drives a powerful self-correcting mechanism.

The Rev. Barber is right: The 45 words of the First Amendment don’t include a specific volume setting for what is being prayed for, said, written, sought — or shouted to the rooftops or in legislative hallways. In practice, the First Amendment encourages disruption of what is in place, along with the discourse and debate required for change. 

Learn more:

There’s a lot to learn about the freedoms of speech, assembly, petition and the First Amendment. Here’s more about the freedom of speech and some of its limits. Here’s more on the freedom of assembly. Here’s more on the freedom of petition. And here’s much more about the First Amendment.

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