About
About the Author
Barnard Sims, known as Barnard the Barber, is the owner of Barnard’s Hair Salon. At Winder Barrows High School, he was chosen to be the independent artist—a student selected to do various art projects for the school. Barnard the Barber is a master cosmetologist and was a cosmetology instructor at Athens Technical College (ATC) while he also completed an associate’s degree in public services.
At ATC, he served as the acting president of Organized Black Students Encouraging Unity and Excellence (OBSEUE), a math tutor, and the organizer of Christmas charity projects in areas at risk and other communities.
As a passionate civil rights activist, he became the vice president of his local NAACP.
Barnard also created The Way It Is, a radio talk show on which he hosted guests to promote their businesses. He is always finding ways to utilize his voice as a catalyst for social change by getting into what John Lewis called “good trouble.”
He was an extra chosen as lead for the resale cover art of the documentary film Before the Memories Fade, featuring John Lewis. He has devoted many hours to teaching children chess at his business and at his local Boys and Girls Club.
Barnard is a United States Chess Federation certified local and district chess coach. He is also a volunteer at Chess and Community Conference, a nonprofit youth development program that utilizes chess as a life tool to encourage youth to “Think before you move!”
Barnard is also a sponsor and volunteer at the nonprofit Leap for Literacy. His philanthropy through Leap for Literacy has paved the way for many youths to become first-time authors themselves.
He is an actor and student at Premier Actors Network (PANfam), studying under the tutelage of the incomparable master actor/instructor Dwayne Boyd. Barnard played a sharecropper in the historical movie Till produced by MGM’s Orion Pictures and the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT) Awards winning Whoopi Goldberg!
Featured Work
The Southern Awakening
The Southern Awakening is A Black Man’s Guide to Liberating the Rural South, written from the perspective of Barnard the Barber. With over 36 years of experience in the hair care industry, barbers and beauticians are uniquely privileged to have a hand on the pulse of their communities. Therefore, while gathering the wisdom from the myriad of viewpoints that enter into our spaces, this book utilizes barbering as a platform to teach those lessons learned like elders in an African yet American village. As Oprah Winfrey said “Life is a Masterclass, and when you learn, teach”!
This book gives actionable steps as tools to galvanize rural oppressed pockets of our society back into the light of our nation’s civility! These solutions are formatted into eight postulates in homage to the eight principles of Charlamange Tha God’s book, New York Times best seller, Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It.
The Southern Awakening will guide you to the blueprint of your own life’s divine path. It’s every individuals’ mission to discover your own unique purpose for being placed on this earth. This book is the tool that will inspire you to create the postulates and principles needed to place you on your designated road to enlightenment!
As Bob Marley wrote “emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds”. The Southern Awakening will guide you to discovering the true redemption, of self-liberation!
