At a time when African-Americans were not permitted to voice their sentiments related to racism and equality, Marion Barry became one of those foot warriors and instruments of a new revolution. Any intimation of opposition was usually met with brute force, lynching, beatings and sometimes, even cool-blooded murder. Dr. Martin Luther King and his foot soldiers, including Barry, began boldly defying dogmatists and racists around America, head on. Barry became a successful American Democratic politician and is best known for his role in the civil rights movement. While studying for his doctorate at Tennessee University, he became a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was made its national chairman and president. For his contributions towards the betterment of his people, Barry was also elected as the mayor of the District of Columbia, before he was sentenced for six months in prison after being sentenced on a drugs charge. After serving as a business organizer, to a school board associate and to mayor, for over two decades, Barry typified all that is good and evil about urban politics in the United States of America.