Mary Frances Berry

Released
Date of birth:17. 02. 1938
Age:88
Gender:Female
Race:Black
Era:1980s
State:District of Columbia
Time Imprisoned:
1 Day
Support
Anti-Apartheid Civil Rights Anti-Imperialism
Mary Frances Berry

Biography

Mary Frances Berry is a historian, lawyer, and longtime civil-rights advocate who served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1980 to 2004 and chaired it from 1993 to 2004. President Reagan tried to fire her from the Commission for criticizing his policies; she sued and won, earning the nickname "the woman the President could not fire." On November 21, 1984 she was one of the three founders arrested at the South African embassy launching FSAM.

Case

Charges: Misdemeanor DC Code 22-1307 (congregating within 500 feet of a foreign embassy / failure to disperse) or unlawful entry.
Arrested: Nov 20, 1984
Incarcerated: Nov 20, 1984
Released: Nov 21, 1984
Sentence: Released same day or following morning; charges declined / dropped (typical FSAM disposition). Verdict as recorded: No — charges declined / dropped Charges as recorded: Misdemeanor DC Code 22-1307 (congregating within 500 feet of a foreign embassy / failure to disperse) or unlawful entry. Free South Africa Movement civil disobedience at the South African Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue. The DC U.S. Attorney (Joseph diGenova) declined to prosecute most arrestees, holding the cases lacked "prosecutive merit." Approximately 5,000 such arrests in DC alone Nov 1984 - 1986; daily sit-ins helped produce the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, passed over President Reagan's veto.
Convicted: No — charges dismissed

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