Bishop William Barber

2025-2026 Bill 4976: Bishop William Barber - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 4976
STATUS INFORMATION
House Resolution
Sponsors: Reps. Henderson-Myers, McDaniel, King, Govan, Howard, Cobb-Hunter, Bauer, Jones, J. Moore, Atkinson, Clyburn, Gilliard, Grant, Hosey, J.L. Johnson, Reese, Scott, Weeks, Williams, Alexander, Anderson, Bailey, Ballentine, Bamberg, Bannister, Beach, Bernstein, Bowers, Bradley, Brewer, Brittain, Burns, Bustos, Calhoon, Caskey, Chapman, Chumley, Collins, Cox, Crawford, Cromer, Davis, Dillard, Duncan, Edgerton, Erickson, Ford, Forrest, Frank, Gagnon, Garvin, Gatch, Gibson, Gilliam, Gilreath, Guest, Guffey, Haddon, Hager, Hardee, Harris, Hart, Hartnett, Hartz, Hayes, Herbkersman, Hewitt, Hiott, Hixon, Holman, Huff, J.E. Johnson, Jordan, Kilmartin, Kirby, Landing, Lastinger, Lawson, Ligon, Long, Lowe, Luck, Magnuson, Martin, McCabe, McCravy, McGinnis, C. Mitchell, D. Mitchell, Montgomery, T. Moore, Morgan, Moss, Neese, B. Newton, W. Newton, Oremus, Pace, Pedalino, Pope, Rankin, Rivers, Robbins, Rose, Rutherford, Sanders, Schuessler, Sessions, G.M. Smith, M.M. Smith, Spann-Wilder, Stavrinakis, Taylor, Teeple, Terribile, Vaughan, Waters, Wetmore, White, Whitmire, Wickensimer, Willis, Wooten and Yow
Document Path: LC-0435CM-GM26.docx
Introduced in the House on January 15, 2026
Adopted by the House on January 15, 2026
Summary: Bishop William Barber
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

1/15/2026

House

Introduced and adopted (
House Journal-page 18
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
01/15/2026

A
house
RESOLUTION

to recognize and honor Reverend Dr. William Joseph
Barber II, President of Repairers of the Breach, and to welcome him to the
State of south Carolina.

W
hereas, the House of
Representatives is pleased to learn that Reverend Dr. William Joseph Barber II
will visit the Palmetto State the weekend of January 16 and 17, 2026; and

W
hereas, Bishop Barber
graduated from Plymouth High, earned a bachelor's degree from North Carolina
Central University, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and a doctorate
from Drew University, with a concentration in Public Policy and Pastoral Care.
He has studied in a special fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Having received many awards for his service, Bishop Barber has had
twelve honorary doctorate degrees conferred upon him; and

W
hereas, Bishop Barber
served as senior pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church with the Disciples of
Christ for thirty years, as president of the North Carolina NAACP from 2006
through 2017, and on the National NAACP Board of Directors from 2008 through
2020. He is the architect of the Forward Together Moral Movement that gained
national acclaim in 2013 with its Moral Monday protests at the North Carolina
General Assembly; and

W
hereas, he serves as president
and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, bishop with The Fellowship of
Affirming Ministries, executive board member of the Christian Church Disciples
of Christ, professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy, and
the founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at
Yale Divinity School. He is the co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A
National Call for Moral Revival, and is a Kettering Foundation senior fellow;
and

W
hereas, Bishop Barber
is the author of five books:
We Are Called to Be a Movement; Revive Us
Again: Vision and action in moral organizing
;
The Third Reconstruction:
Moral Mondays, fusion politics, and the rise of a new justice movement
; and

Forward Together: A moral message for the nation
.
White Poverty: How exposing
myths about race and class can reconstruct American democracy
was released
in June 2024; and

W
hereas, in 2015, he
established Repairers of the Breach to train communities in moral movement
building through the Moral Political Organizing Leadership Institute and Summit
Trainings. In 2018, he co-anchored the relaunch of the Poor People's Campaign:
A national call for moral revival, reviving the 1968 Poor People's Campaign
organized by the women's rights movement, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
worker's rights movement, religious leaders, and people of all races to fight
poverty in the United States; and

W
hereas, as a moral
leader engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience, Bishop Barber has been
arrested more than fifteen times in various states, standing with those who
have been marginalized by systematic racism, poverty, and injustice; and

W
hereas, Bishop Barber gave
a keynote address at the 2016 Democratic National Convention; was one of few
preachers in the nation's history to be invited to give the homily at an
Inaugural Prayer Service, the 59th Inaugural Prayer Service for President Joe
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris; and addressed the 5th UNI Global Union
World Congress to more than twenty-five countries in June 2018; and

W
hereas, the South
Carolina House of Representatives values the dedication of involved citizens
like William Barber who seek the betterment of our nation, and the members
appreciate the honor that his visit bestows on our great State. Now, therefore,

B
e it resolved by the
House of Representatives
:

T
hat the members of the
South Carolina
House of Representatives
,
by this resolution, recognize and honor Reverend Dr. William Joseph Barber II, President
of Repairers of the Breach, and welcome him to the State of South Carolina.

B
e it further resolved
that a copy of this resolution be presented to Reverend Dr. William Joseph
Barber II.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on January 15, 2026 at 11:47 AM