A native of Wilkinson County in southwestern Mississippi, Barrow holds an Associate of Arts degree from the Baton Rouge School of Computers. She is an administrative assistant at the social services firm, Inner Reflections in Baton Rouge. She resides in North Baton Rouge with her husband, James Garnett Barrow, Sr.. The couple has two children, Shanrika and James, Jr. Barrow is African-American. She is a former president of the Parent-Teacher Association at Glen Oaks High School and the Louisiana New School Academy, both in Baton Rouge. She is a former vice-president for programs for the Camp Fire Boys and Girls. She is director of the senior care ministry at the North Boulevard Macedonia Church in Baton Rouge.
Political life
Barrow has held her seat since 2005, when she won a special election to succeed fellow Democrat Sharon Weston Broome, who was elected that year to the state Senate. She had been Broome's House legislative assistant. Barrow won her first full term in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007, when she polled 6,239 votes over a fellow Democrat, Sarah Holliday, with 2,282, and a Republican, Harold A. Williams, formerly of Baltimore, Maryland, who received the remaining 1,143 votes. In 2011, she won by a similar margin, 64 to 36 percent, over another Democrat, Edmond Jordan of West Baton Rouge Parish. As a state representative, Barrow was a vice-chair of the Legislative Women's Caucus and a member of the Legislative Black Caucus and the Democratic Caucus. She was the vice-chair of both the House Executive Committee and the Special Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs. She served on these House committees: Health and Welfare, Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs, Ways and Means, and Joint Legislative on Capital Outlay. Barrow's House ratings ranged from 26 to 67 from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. In 2012. the National Federation of Independent Business rated Barrow 17 percent. In both 2013 and 2014, the conservativeLouisiana Family Forum scored her 50 percent. In 2013 and 2014, she was rated 75 and 100 percent, respectively, by Louisiana Right to Life. She was rated 100 percent in both 2013 and 2014 by the Louisiana Association of Educators. In 2006, she was rated 64 percent by the Humane Society. In 2005, she was scored 75 percent by the Louisiana Hospital Association. In 2014, Barrow co-sponsored the requirement that abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges near their clinics; only five House members opposed the measure. That same year, she voted to extend the time for implementation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. She voted to forbid the transportation of dogs in open truck beds on interstate highways. She did not vote on the repeal of state anti-sodomy laws; the measure failed in the House, 27-67. In 2018, she wrote legislation requiring the official U.S. motto, "In God We Trust", to be displayed at all Louisiana public schools and its history added to their mandatory curriculum; the legislation passed into law. In 2013, Barrow voted to reduce penalties for the possession of marijuana. She did not vote on the issue of permanent concealed carry gun permits but in 2014 opposed the use of such permits in restaurants that serve alcohol. She opposed keeping information on concealed carry permits confidential and out of the public record. She voted to increase judicial pay and to end the mandatory retirement age for judges. She co-sponsored an "equal pay" plan for state employees. In 2012, she co-sponsored legislation to provide for parole eligibility for non-violent inmates. She voted to prohibit the use of telephones while driving and in 2011 had opposed the holding of hand-held devices while driving. She opposed state tax incentives to recruit a National Basketball Association team to Louisiana and also voted against state income tax deductions for taxpayers donating to scholarship funds. She opposed reducing the number of hours that polling locations must remain open; Louisiana has traditionally had 14-hour polling days. In 2011, Barrow voted for a permanent tax on cigarettes. That year she also supported parole eligibility for elderly inmates and a failed bill which proposed to halt bullyingin public schools. She opposed the requirement for drug testing of welfare recipients. She voted to establish a commission to develop a plan to abolish the state income tax. She opposed the redistricting bill for both the Louisiana State Senate and the congressional delegation.
