William B. Allen

William Barclay Allen (born 1944) is an American author, professor, and political scientist from Fernandina Beach, Florida. He was a member of the National Council on the Humanities from 1984 to 1987 and chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1988 to 1989. Allen ran as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in California in 1986 and 1992, losing in the primary election each time. Allen has been described as a "conservative black leader in education." He received a Ph.D. in 1972 from Claremont Graduate University. In February 1989, Allen was arrested on kidnapping charges while interviewing an Apache girl, which caused controversy within the Civil Rights Commission. In June 1998, he became Virginia's chief executive for public higher education but resigned after 13 months due to a personal relationship. Allen also lobbied for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. From 2018 to 2019, he was a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado Boulder and is currently a resident scholar at the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. He has appeared on *The Ben Shapiro Show* to discuss issues related to Black America.