Before Washington, D.C., had Marion Barry, Oregon had the marionberry

Before Washington, D.C., had Marion Barry, Oregon had the marionberry
(Image credit: CC by: Foodista)

Marion Barry, who died on Sunday, is probably remembered most outside of Washington, D.C., for his videotaped 1990 bust for smoking crack cocaine. The former four-term mayor of America's capital leaves behind a much more complicated legacy in Washington, though, including helping build the city's black middle class and, in the 1960s, fighting for civil rights and Washington home rule. In Washington, the larger-than-life Barry was known widely as "Mayor for Life," even though he left the mayor's office for a City Council seat in 1999.

Across the country in Oregon, though, Marion Barry was never as famous as the marionberry, a delicious blackberry offshoot developed at Oregon State University and unveiled in 1956 — nine years before Marion Barry arrived in Washington from Memphis. The marionberry is named after Marion County, the home of state capital Salem and the testing ground for the berry.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.