Marion Barry

Civil rights activist Marion S. Barry Jr. has served four terms as mayor of D.C. Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, March 6, 1936, Marion Shepilov Barry Jr. has dedicated much of his life to the Civil Rights Movement and improving his adopted city.

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.

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.

After just three years on the city council, the democrat ran for mayor and won in 1978. He was reelected two more times. After some complications, 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.)

Barry retired from politics in 1998 but returned in 2002 and ran again for city council in 2004 on behalf of Ward 8, one of the city’s poorest areas. He won.

Despite being the political comeback kid, Barry was elected for a third straight city council term in 2012 His story may become an HBO biopic with Eddie Murphy playing Barry and Spike Lee as the director.