Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II to deliver keynote in Cincinnati April 22
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 31, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Hefner (513) 608-5777, chefner@nurfc.org
Freedom Center welcomes leader of national Poor People's Campaign against poverty
CINCINNATI – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is hosting the nation’s leading activist in the fight against poverty. Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, is delivering a keynote at the Freedom Center on Saturday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available now.
Confronting Poverty: An Evening with Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is an opportunity for the community to learn about the plight of poverty – which currently impacts 12% of the American population – and Dr. Barber’s efforts to ensure equity of access and freedom from want. His ongoing Poor People’s Campaign is a continuation of the work started by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, which is the basis of a new exhibition at the Freedom Center – Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People’s Campaign. Following the keynote, Rev. Barber will be signing copies of his book The Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear, which will be available for purchase that evening.
“In one of the wealthiest nations on the planet, a land of plenty, we continue to be plagued by pervasive poverty that strikes across all races and all regions,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president and COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “Reverend Barber’s quest is one for humanity and equity, a quest to liberate 38 million people from the bondage of want and we’re honored to host him to inspire new advocates in this fight.”
In addition to Rev. Barber’s role with the Poor People’s Campaign, he serves as president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, Bishop with The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, Pastor for the past 29 years of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, NC, and has most recently been named Professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and Founding Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.
Tickets for Confronting Poverty: An Evening with Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II are available now at $40 for Freedom Center Members and $50 for non-Members. A reception will precede the event at 5:30 p.m., sponsored by Gallagher Insurance.
The keynote with Dr. Barber is a companion program to the Freedom Center’s upcoming featured exhibition Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People’s Campaign¸ which opens this Thursday. Developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Solidarity Now! illuminates the often-overlooked history of the multicultural movement to confront poverty that redefined social justice and activism in America. The campaign was organized by Dr. King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy as a national human rights crusade in response to the rising and ubiquitous poverty of the 1960s. Through photographs, oral histories, protest signs, political buttons, audio field recordings and a 3D map of the six-week protest community on the National Mall in 1968, the exhibition resurrects the story and vision of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.
