Born in
Sampson County, North Carolina in 1896, he moved to
Burgaw, North Carolina at the age of 12, where he attended public schools. During
World War I, Barden was a seaman in the
United States Navy. After leaving the navy in 1919, Barden attended the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1920. After briefly practicing law and teaching high school that same year, he became a judge in the
Craven County courts, a post he held until 1924. In 1932, Barden was elected to the
North Carolina House of Representatives.
Congress Two years later, he won the first of thirteen consecutive terms in the
United States House. During the
78th and
79th Congresses, he chaired the House Education Committee; after that committee merged to become the
Education and Labor Committee, he again became chairman in the
81st,
82nd,
84th,
85th, and
86th sessions. He was a signatory to the 1956
Southern Manifesto that opposed the desegregation of public schools ordered by the Supreme Court in
Brown v. Board of Education.
Retirement and death He chose not to stand for re-election in 1960 and died in
New Bern, North Carolina in 1967.
Legacy In 1979,
Campbell University Press published a biography by Elmer L. Puryear. Graham A. Barden Elementary School, in
Havelock, North Carolina is named after him. ==Notes==