Emery Oakland Barnes (December 15, 1929 – June 1, 1998) was a

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professional

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player and politician.

Background

Born in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

and raised in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, Barnes was a gifted athlete, and was an alternate high jumper for the 1952 US Olympic Track and Field team. He played football at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

(from where he received his

B.Sc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

) and was selected by the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the

1954 NFL Draft The 1954 National Football League Draft was held on January 28, 1954, at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. This was the eighth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick determined by lottery. With the previous seven winners i ...

(10th round, 207th overall.) He played two games for the Packers in 1956, but had much more success in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

with the

B.C. Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

. He played 3 years, from 1962 to 1964, for a total of 30 games and was a Grey Cup champion in 1964 (though an injury prevented him from playing in the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

game). He also received a

Bachelor of Social Work A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

degree from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

Political career

Barnes worked as a social worker before entering politics. First elected to the

British Columbia legislature The Parliament of British Columbia is made of two elements: the King in Right of British Columbia, represented by the Lieutenant Governor, and the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (which meets at the British Columbia Parliament Building ...

in 1972, and re-elected four consecutive times, he served the people of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

until 1996. Barnes and fellow

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Deve ...

MLA Rosemary Brown were the first

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politicians elected to a legislative office in British Columbia in the 20th century. He was particularly concerned with issues relating to social justice, human rights, and poverty. Elected

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the Legislature in 1994, Barnes was also the first black person to hold this position in any Canadian province. The city of Vancouver has named a park after him in his memory, Emery Barnes Park at 1100 Seymour Street. Barnes is buried in Robinson Memorial Park Cemetery, in Coquitlam, British Columbia. The headstone shows his full name as "Emery Oakland Barnes." Constance Barnes, his daughter, was an elected member of the Vancouver Park Board and stood for the 2015 federal election with the NDP in the riding of

Vancouver Centre Vancouver Centre (french: Vancouver-Centre) is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It is the riding with the biggest Japanese community in Canada. As ...

References

External links

Detailed Biography of Emery Barnes from University of Washington
(wayback machine) *Gail Ito
Barnes, Emery (1929-1998)
at

blackpast.org BlackPast.org is a web-based reference center that is dedicated primarily to the understanding of African-American history and Afro-Caribbean history and the history of people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry. In 2011 the American Library Associati ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Emery 1929 births 1998 deaths Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia BC Lions players Green Bay Packers players African-American players of Canadian football American players of Canadian football American football defensive linemen American emigrants to Canada Black Canadian track and field athletes Black Canadian politicians Canadian people of African-American descent Canadian Protestants Canadian sportsperson-politicians Canadian social workers Canadian football defensive linemen Sportspeople from New Orleans Canadian football people from Vancouver Politicians from New Orleans Politicians from Vancouver Players of American football from New Orleans Players of Canadian football from New Orleans Players of American football from Oregon Oregon Ducks football players British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs University of British Columbia School of Social Work alumni University of Oregon alumni History of Black people in British Columbia 20th-century African-American sportspeople African-American history of Oregon