Cora Masters Barry, Washington, D.C.’s former first lady, wife of the late Mayor Marion Barry, Jr., a man that, in the words of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, “helped give us the greatest day in the history of our struggle in America!”
That day was the historic Million Man March and Holy Day of Atonement, held October 16, 1995. Below is an edited excerpt from portions of a one-on-one interview with The Final Call National Correspondent Charlene Muhammad, in which Mrs. Barry, who organized women and the National Voter Registration Drive for the Million Man March.
Reflected on its 29th anniversary, emphasized her husband’s role and the challenges faced, and her role in, helping to organize women leaders for the historic gathering. She also reflected on the experience of witnessing the March and its significant impact on Black families.
Charlene Muhammad (CM): What are your reflections on the Million Man March, 29 years later?
Cora Masters Barry (CMB): Number one, in 1995 was a historic swearing in my husband for his fourth term as mayor, after a tremendous comeback. That was the year that Minister Farrakhan came and met with him to discuss the Million Man March. And to use the Minister’s words.
Marion said, ‘I’m all in, Minister. The city is yours, whatever we can do to help.’ And then, the Minister, at a recent event, as he laid the wreath on my husband’s grave, 10 years after his death, said, ‘And then Mrs. Barry got to work,’ which is actually true.
My husband had the whole city that he made sure was open for the Million Man March, just in terms of personal information. It was a great sacrifice. He got a lot of controversy around it and a lot of pushback from the powers that be. But, he stood strong for the Million Man March and in support of the mission and the goal of the Minister.
I, along with him, and by his side, worked very diligently to make sure that they were comfortable in the city. My pastor, Reverend Willie Wilson of Union Temple Baptist Church, was like a headquarters for them, in many ways, and they were also over at the headquarters of the fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, and we all went to work.
One of the issues that came up was that women were very upset about not being included, and there was a lot of back and forth. But myself and Dr. Dorothy Height (President Emeritus National Council of Negro Woman) called a meeting in my basement of all the women leaders.
Women reporters, and we all got our heads together and determined that we were going to have a positive approach to the Million Man March and not criticize the brothers as they move forth with the vision and the dream to bring a million Black men to the nation’s capital in a peaceful way.
So, the Minister heard our cry. We approached him about the women being involved. And … at a private meeting at the National Council of Negro Women with myself, Dr. Dorothy Height who called the meeting, Dr. Barbara Skinner.
C. Delores Tucker, Sister Nisa Islam Muhammad, and others, … the Minister had given us his purpose, his vision statement, and asked the women to look at it. And, we looked at it, and we evaluated it, and the March was called the Million Man March, a Holy Day of Atonement.
The short story is that we sent our edits back to the Minister, and to our surprise and to our joy, he accepted all of our input. And in that regard, Barbara Skinner and Dr. Linda Boyd were active participants in putting the program together.
They met with the Minister about the program, and it was a collaboration with the Nation of Islam, the women, and the Union Temple Baptist Church, among others, who worked very diligently.
My point is that the Million Man March was able to be successful because there were a lot of us, meaning we were not believers, in the sense that we were not in the Nation of Islam, but we were supportive of the vision of the Minister.
And I think that the making of the Million Man March is a very important element that doesn’t get discussed enough.
(As part of mobilization the idea of voter registration was recommended to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.)
I can also say that the Minister asked me to head up the voter registration drive for the Million Man March. … I initially declined, and I said to the Minister, I don’t think I can do that.
The reason that he asked me, as I mentioned before, (is) my husband had just had his historic return to be the mayor of the District of Columbia, after coming out of prison, for his fourth term and I was the one who did the voter registration drive (then). But we registered 20,000 new voters, and we got 19,000 up to the polls.
Based on that, the Minister knew that I had participated in and led that voter registration drive and wanted me to use the same skills, energy and knowledge that I had in voter registration for the Million Man March.
(Mrs. Barry stated that the success of the voter registration drive included the efforts of others, including the National Coordination on Black City Participation and its CEO Melanie Campbell.)
The Million Man March was just a lot of things. It was the back story. It was watching and seeing all these millions of Black men showing up, and Black families showing up and being peaceful and spending the night out on The Ellipse (President’s Park South).
It was very historic. My special guest that evening was Betty Shabazz, Minister Malcolm X’s widow. She spoke at the Million Man March. Rosa Parks spoke at the Million Man March. C. Delores Tucker (political and social activist) spoke at the Million Man March.
Dorothy Height spoke at the Million Man March. (Dr.) E. Faye Williams spoke at the Million Man March. And yours truly, Cora Masters Barry, was the first woman to speak at the Million Man March.
(The night before the Million Man March, Mrs. Masters Barry shared that she went to the National Mall.)
I got out of the car, and I walked amongst the people, among the men who had gathered, getting ready for the next day. It was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life because I knew that the next day, I would be on such an elevated level that I would not be able to be with the people.
And so, the very next day, they picked us up. We went to the top of the hotel. … I got a chance to just look over the city and see them as they (the men) started gathering over at the Washington Monument.
Later on, we got there, and as they called my name to be the first woman to speak at the Million Man March, I got up. I looked out, and I said, ‘To look out and see this beautiful sight takes my breath away.’ And it took my breath away.
It was an amazing view. And for me to be able to stand there, the daughter of Dr. Isabelle Masters and the mother of Lalaya and Tamara Masters, was an amazing experience. It was a spiritual experience, and there’s nothing that has ever matched it since then.
So yes, that was a historic day, and then after I spoke, the next person who spoke was Dr. Dorothy Height, and I’ll never forget this, because that’s a part of the history.
When Dr. Dorothy Height, head of the National Council of Negro Women, who Minister Farrakhan used to call ‘Mother,’ when she supported and determined that she was going to be a part of the Million Man March, she was under a lot of criticism and a lot of people were trying to keep her from doing it.
A lot of people from the Civil Rights era were trying to, and she stood her ground. And she was doing it strong for the Million Man March. And when she stood in front of that stage, and she looked out, her exact words were: “I am here, because you are here,” meaning, I am standing here for a million Black men. So, it was quite an experience.
(CM): Thank you.
We thank Allah God for calling the 1995 Million Man March and Day of Atonement through His Servant and Minister, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
His tireless work night and day from coast to coast through men’s only meetings, civic meetings and leadership meetings, galvanized and inspired the nearly two million Black men that showed up on the Mall. They paid their own way to come to the March.
The Minister instructed them to bring no guns or weapons and he wanted them to experience the Spirit of God and that, they did. Minister Farrakhan called it a glimpse of Heaven.
Long Live the Spirit
of the Million Man March!
