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Quick Facts
- NAME: Marion S. Barry Jr.
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Mayor
- BIRTH DATE: March 06, 1936 (Age: 77)
- EDUCATION: Fisk University, Le Moyne College
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Itta Bena, Mississippi
- AKA: Marion Shepilov Barry
- Full Name: Marion Shepilov Barry Jr.
- AKA: Marion Barry
- AKA: Marion S. Barry Jr.
- AKA: Marion S. Barry
- ZODIAC SIGN: Pisces
Best Known For
Civil rights activist Marion S. Barry Jr. has served four terms as mayor of D.C., with his career surviving numerous scandals.
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Play NowMarion Shepilov Barry Jr. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 11:26, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/marion-s-barry-jr-9200328.
Marion Shepilov Barry Jr. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/marion-s-barry-jr-9200328 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Marion Shepilov Barry Jr." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 11:26 http://www.biography.com/people/marion-s-barry-jr-9200328.
"Marion Shepilov Barry Jr.," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/marion-s-barry-jr-9200328 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Marion Shepilov Barry Jr.," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/marion-s-barry-jr-9200328 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Marion Shepilov Barry Jr. [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/marion-s-barry-jr-9200328.
Marion Shepilov Barry Jr., http://www.biography.com/people/marion-s-barry-jr-9200328 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Marion Shepilov Barry Jr. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/marion-s-barry-jr-9200328. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, March 6, 1936, Marion Shepilov Barry Jr. was elected mayor of Washington, D.C. four times, despite serving prison time in 1990 for a minor drug offense and other legal troubles. He’s dedicated much of his life to the Civil Rights Movement and improving his adopted city.
Contents
Quotes
"Everybody in life has something that they get knocked down on. The object lesson here is not that you get knocked down, it is that you get up."
Early Years
Marion Barry Jr. was born on March 6, 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi. His father worked as a sharecropper and passed away when he was only four. His mom moved the family to Memphis, remarried and raised nine children. As a young boy, Barry took on multiple jobs to assist his family, including picking cotton.
Civil Rights Activist
This young man applied his work ethic to his education too. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1958 from Le Moyne College and in 1960 received his master’s degree in chemistry from Fisk University. His passion for the Civil Rights Movement kept him from completing his doctorate. Instead, Barry’s efforts went into the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); he served as its first national chairman. In 1965, he moved to Washington, D.C. to launch a local chapter.
Political Ambitions
In 1967, Barry co-founded Pride, Inc., a jobs program for unemployed black men. Next, Barry began his foray into politics by winning a seat on the D.C. School Board in 1972; two years later, he was elected to city council. But his success put Barry in the line of fire, literally. Hanafi Muslims took over the District Building in 1977 and Barry was shot during the incident. His survival seemed to boost his "unstoppable" image.
Mayor Barry
After just three years on the city council, the democrat ran for mayor and won in 1978. He was reelected two more times. But during his third term, there were rumors of drug abuse. On January 18, 1990, the mayor was caught on tape by the FBI using crack cocaine. He was sentenced to six months for possession. Yet the scandal didn’t keep Barry from running for city council after prison. His slogan? "He may not be perfect, but he's perfect for D.C." Barry not only won in 1992, but two years later he was reelected mayor. (That same year, he married his fourth wife, political science professor Cora Masters.)
More Legal Issues, More Wins
Barry retired from politics in 1998 but returned in 2002 with an unsuccessful city council bid. His campaign faltered after the police reported finding small traces of crack and marijuana in his illegally parked car. No charges were filed. Also, in that same year, Barry had to pay $35,000 in damages to a woman in a civil case where he was accused of exposing himself in an airport bathroom. Neither setback deterred Barry from running again for city council in 2004 on behalf of Ward 8, one of the city’s poorest areas…and winning.
Despite being the political comeback kid, Barry continued to have brushes with the law involving such accusations as drugs, tax evasion, probation violation, traffic offenses and stalking. In 2010, he was censured and stripped of his committee chairmanship because of corruption allegations. Still, in 2012, he was elected for a third straight city council term. His story may become an HBO biopic with Eddie Murphy playing Barry and Spike Lee as the director.
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View groupAfrican-Americans have a long history of activism in America, from fighting for the right to vote to pushing for integrated public spaces. Activists like Stokely Carmichael organized freedom rides, James Meredith fought to integrate blacks and whites at the University of Mississippi, and Rosa Parks instigated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These protests were often legal and nonviolent, and made a powerful impact on civil rights in the United States. With the help of activists like these—and many others—the country slowly worked to acknowledge the basic rights and contributions of African-Americans. Activists outisde of the U.S. include Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, who have fought against apartheid in South Africa. Learn more about the many black activists who fought against the odds in order to achieve equality.
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View group"Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love." Stated by legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., these words represent a basic human philosophy to which black history's greatest leaders have passionately subscribed. Learn more about the world's most revered civil rights activists, known for their fight against social injustices and lasting impact on the lives of black citizens, including Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Nelson Mandela, Nina Simone, Mary McLeod Bethune, Lena Horne, Marva Collins, Rosa Parks, W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
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