Mary Frances Berry

Mary Frances Berry was a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights when she joined the November 21, 1984, sit-in at South Africa's embassy in Washington. She remained inside with Randall Robinson and Walter Fauntroy and was arrested; Eleanor Holmes Norton had left the meeting to alert the press. ¹

Berry's work crossed scholarship, education administration, and protest. She attended Howard University, headed the University of Colorado at Boulder, and served as the federal government's principal education official in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. She later chaired the Civil Rights Commission and wrote about constitutional racism, voting, and the history of social movements. ²

In 1988, Berry joined the University of Pennsylvania as professor of American social thought. She continued to speak about the Free South Africa Movement, representing it at the Washington National Cathedral's commemoration of Nelson Mandela in December 2013. South Africa also recognized her role in organizing the movement that year. ²