To know Marion Barry, Jr., is to understand his stalwart assertion to public service. Marion Barry, Jr., has dedicated 40 years of his life to public service living by the motto of “always fighting for the people”. He is one of America’s most accomplished public officials living. He is directly responsible for the success of more African American Millionaires than any other person in the country. He served an unprecedented 16 years as Mayor of the District of Columbia taking the once sleepy southern migration hub to a major metropolitan city. Fighting for justice, freedom, equality and jobs has always been at the forefront for Mr. Barry. It continues to be as significant today, as a District of Columbia City Councilmember from Ward 8, than it was as his tenure as Mayor.

In 1971, Barry was elected to serve on Washington, DC’s first school board. Upon Congress granting the District of Columbia the right to hold its own local elections, Barry won a seat on the DC City Council in 1974, becoming the highest vote getter, and was named chairman of the Finance Committee. Under his leadership as chair, he “helped put the city’s finances in order; pushed the executive to present accurate figures and budgets; offered trailblazing property tax legislation; established an equitable income tax system; and cut taxes for senior citizens.” While serving as a member of the Council, Mr. Barry spearheaded the movement to require that all contracts considered by the District government for services, supplies and development include a mandatory 35% participation for minority owned companies. Barry was the catalyst for the expansion of the city’s Black middle class…..he insisted that professional positions in the District government be filled by minorities and that the city’s minority business community participate in District government contracts. His support of awarding the district’s cable franchise to the team led by Robert Johnson’s Black Entertainment Television enabled BET to grow and prosper. Barry was reelected to the City Council in 1976.

After building a strong coalition of supporters amongst blacks and other liberal whites, women and the homosexual community, Barry became the second Mayor ever elected in DC in the year of 1978 and served as Mayor for three terms until 1990. His campaign for mayor pulled together the city as never before…..senior citizens, liberal whites, poor blacks, Hispanics, women, labor leaders, art and cultural community and members of the gay community formed a coalition that changed the landscape of elective politics in the District. He achieved a stunning come from behind victory, defeating incumbent Mayor Walter Washington and Council Chairman Sterling Tucker, to become the city’s second elected mayor. His first administration was a model of municipal governance. He attracted some of the best minds in the country to work in city administration, transportation, public works, planning, health care, housing, finance and economic development. In his first term as Mayor, Barry directed all of his Department heads to comply fully with the 35% goal of minority participation. As a result of his leadership, DC contracts increased from a mere 3% to 47%. Thus millions of dollars have been awarded to qualified African American and Latino businesses. This percentage was unmatched by anyone else in the country. In a similar way, his support of the purchase of WOL-Radio by the team led by Dewey and Cathy Hughes enabled Radio One to grow and prosper. Don Peebles, developer and owner of hotels across the country, got his start under the tutelage of Mayor Marion Barry. While these business giants have a national reach and national reputation, Barry enabled a score of local minority companies to grow and prosper….Charter Health, Urban Systems, Inc., Jones & Artist, DH Lloyd & Associates, Ft. Myers Construction, Faith Construction and countless others. He was and still is, an advocate for economic inclusion…..inclusion for African American…inclusion for women…inclusion for Hispanics, Asian and Pacific Islanders.

Barry instructed Department heads to cut through red tape. He wooed developers. Therefore his administration is principally responsible for the revitalization for the entire downtown corridor. Along with the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, where he was on the board, he led the efforts to develop Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Add to that the development of the east end, the rebuilding of the west end and the resurgence of the U street corridor.

He principally responsible for the revitalization of downtown, the development of the east end, the rebuilding of the west end and the resurgence of the “U” Street corridor with the construction of the reeves Center at 14th and U Street, N.W., as the anchor as well as the epicenter of the riots following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr. Because of his vision for downtown, hard work and cutting through the bureaucracy and attracting outstanding developers, even though Washington is 16th in population, it is third in the amount of downtown office space right behind New York and Chicago.
Barry’s administrations balanced the budget, oversaw a construction boom downtown and provided thousands of jobs to District residents. Perhaps Barry’s most memorable legacy to DC residents was his creation of the District Youth’s Employment Act of 1979 guaranteeing a summer job to every young person who resided in the District of Columbia regardless of their economic status. As a result, more than 100,000 young people have received summer employment through the program. Today, in 2008, Barry cannot walk the streets or enter an establishment without someone remembering that they got their first summer job from Marion Barry.

In 1992, Barry returned to DC politics by winning a seat on the City Council and made history in 1994 by winning a landslide victory returning him to the Mayoral seat.

Barry retired from politics in 1998 and aborted a run for City Council in 2002. However, Barry could not refuse the numerous and consistent pleas from Ward 8 residents to reenter politics. He decided to run for the Ward 8 City Council seat and won with 96% of the vote in November 2004. The election as Councilmember, Barry is determined to make Ward 8 the best ward in the city. Now in 2008, Barry plans his 10th career political campaign as he runs for re-election to the Ward 8 seat. Today Barry continues to serve this ward, this city and his country….the legacy of building is a lasting one..and it will serve to motivate future generations to lifetime of public service.

Marion Barry, Jr., was born on March 6, 1936, to Marion Barry, Sr., a sharecropper, and Mattie Barry in Itta Bena, Mississippi. At the age of eight years old Barry, his mother and his sister moved to Memphis, Tennessee on the way to Chicago, Illinois.

In Memphis, Barry attended Booker T. Washington High School where he was not only an “A” student through most of his high school years, but also a skilled football and basketball player. Barry graduated in 1954. He then entered Le Moyne College, a small commuter HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), on scholarship where he earned a bachelor’s degree. He furthered his education at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee earning a master’s degree on a full scholarship. Barry completed three years of the doctoral program in chemistry at the University of Tennessee before abandoning it to become immersed in the civil rights movement full-time. In 1960 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded and Mr. Barry became the first chairman of SNCC and moved to Washington, DC., in 1965. He never moved from the nation’s capitol and was, subsequently, elected Mayor of the District of Columbia for four terms. Barry has one son, Marion Christopher Barry, who resides in Washington, D.C.