Claude Barnes

Claude Barnes (born 1952[?]) is an American civil rights leader for 40 years and a former professor, who was convicted in 2010 of embezzling the estate of his deceased neighbor. In Spring 1969, Barnes was 17 and the junior class president.

The school held student government elections on 2 May 1969, and about 600 students wrote Barnes' name on the ballot for student president. This led to protests by students both from the school and nearby North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University; on 21 May 1969 a man was killed during a shooting between students and the police; the National Guard was called in, and early the next day the mayor declared a state of emergency in Greensboro.

University student

Barnes studied political science at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, in Greensboro, graduating with a BA in 1979. He then studied political science at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, from which he received an MA in 1982 for his thesis "A Consideration of the Relationship between Ideology and Activism in the Black Nationalist Movement: A Case Study of the Rise and Fall of the Greensboro Association of Poor People". Clark Atlanta University awarded him a PhD in 1991 for his dissertation: "Political Power and Economic Dependence: An Analysis of Atlanta's Black Urban Regime".

University lecturer Barnes held a series of jobs as a lecturer in political science at: North Carolina A&T State University (1982–82), Georgia Institute of Technology (1983–84), and Gainesville College (1984–88). Barnes was a well-liked professor who was an inspiration to students. The website for this documentary includes an introduction by Barnes.

Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project was set up to study an incident where five people were killed at an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally in 1979. Barnes gave evidence to the first public hearing of the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project on 15 July 2005.

After his arrest, Barnes cooperated with the police.