Beginning of his Civil Rights Advocacy

Marion’s spirit of Civil Rights activism became evident as a paper boy Memphis, TN. The paper he worked for organized a contest in which any boy who obtained 15 new customers could win a trip to New Orleans. Young Marion (no older than 15) and one or two of the other African American paperboys reached the quota of 15 new customers, but were not allowed to travel on the trip to New Orleans, a segregated city. The paper said it could not afford to hire two buses to satisfy the rules. Marion decided to boycott his paper route until the newspaper agreed to send the Black paperboys on a trip. After the paper offered the Black paperboys a chance to go to St.Louis, MO, because it was not a segregated city, Marion resumed his paper route. In his junior year at LeMoyne Owen College in Memphis, TN, Marion became President of the college’s NAACP Chapter. In 1960, Mayor Barry earned a Masters of Science Degree in organic chemistry from Fisk University. However, while a student at Fisk, he was arrested several times while participating in the Nashville sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters and other Civil Rights Movement events. Marion, a fearless and unrelenting advocate for Civil Rights was garnering National attention and prominence as a rising young leader in the Movement.