Civil Rights Icon and Activist Rev. Willie T. Barrow Dies at 90

Statements issued by President Barack Obama, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan

By Juanita Bratcher

Rev. Willie Taplin Barrow, long time civil rights activist with a passion for justice and social change, died yesterday. She was 90 years old.

Barrow, a tireless civil rights activist with a dynamic voice to be reckoned with for social change, was known as the “Little Warrior,” and for decades was on the front line of justice.

Barrow was born December 7, 1924 in Burton, Texas to Nelson, a minister and Octavia Taplin. She had six brothers and sisters. She made her transition Thursday. She had been treated for a blood clot in her lung.

Rev. Jesse Jackson said Barrow was “a woman of unusual courage and character. She was a freedom fighter. She fought in the tradition of ‪#‎RosaParks and ‪#‎FannieLouHamer. She was fearless. Death can have her frail body but not her good works and not our memories of her…”

Jackson also noted that it was with “the heaviest of hearts that we announce our sister beloved, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Staff member and our partner of 50 years” has made her transition.

According to Wikipedia, Barrow, in the 1950s worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a field organizer. In the 1960s she helped organize the Chicago chapter of Operation Breadbasket with Rev. Jesse Jackson.^[5] She opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and led a delegation to North Korea in 1968. She was also active in the National Urban League and the National Council of Negro Women.^[6] She was the godmother of President Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama said Barrow never stopped doing all she could to make her community a better place.

President Obama’s complete statement: “Reverend Willie T. Barrow was a Civil Rights icon and a Chicago institution, a “Little Warrior” in pursuit of justice for all God’s children.  In 1936, when she was just 12 years old, Reverend Barrow demanded to be let on to her all-white school bus in Texas, and the fight for equality she joined that day would become the cause of her life.  She marched with Dr. King on Washington and in Selma.   She stood up for labor rights and women’s rights.  She made one of the first pieces of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and proudly welcomed LGBT brothers and sisters to the movement she helped lead.

“Nowhere was Reverend Barrow’s impact felt more than in our hometown of Chicago.  Through Operation Breadbasket, the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, and her beloved Vernon Park Church, she never stopped doing all she could to make her community a better place.  To Michelle and me, she was a constant inspiration, a lifelong mentor, and a very dear friend.  I was proud to count myself among the more than 100 men and women she called her “Godchildren,” and worked hard to live up to her example.  I still do.

“Michelle and I are deeply saddened by Reverend Barrow’s passing, but we take comfort in the knowledge that our world is a far better place because she was a part of it.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Reverend Barrow’s family, and with all those who loved her as we did.”

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL):

“Rev. Willie T. Barrow belongs in the Civil Rights Hall of Fame. From the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to the streets of Chicago, Rev. Barrow fought for justice and stood up to those who would deny equality.  Her passion for helping others, her steely determination and her winning smile will be missed, but her spirit will live on in the countless lives touched by her work.”

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan:

“Reverend Barrow was a tremendous person, with a strong spirit and an unrelenting passion in seeking justice for all. While small in stature, this ‘Little Warrior’ never shied from a fight worth fighting. She was a true public servant in every sense. We have all benefited from her courageous work, and I am proud to have known her and learned from her example. I will miss her love and leadership.”