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Quick Facts
- NAME: Barbara Jordan
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, U.S. Representative
- BIRTH DATE: February 21, 1936
- DEATH DATE: January 17, 1996
- EDUCATION: Texas Southern University, Boston University Law
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Houston, Texas
- PLACE OF DEATH: Austin, Texas
Best Known For
Barbara Jordan was a U.S. congressional representative from Texas and was the first African American congresswoman to come from the Deep South.
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Play NowBarbara Jordan. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 07:46, May 20, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991.
Barbara Jordan. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991 [Accessed 20 May 2013].
"Barbara Jordan." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 20 2013, 07:46 http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991.
"Barbara Jordan," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991 [accessed May 20, 2013].
"Barbara Jordan," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991 (accessed May 20, 2013).
Barbara Jordan [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 20] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991.
Barbara Jordan, http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991 (last visited May 20, 2013).
Barbara Jordan. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991. Accessed May 20, 2013.
Synopsis
Born on February 21, 1936, in Houston, Texas, Barbara Jordan was a lawyer and educator who was a congresswoman from 1972 to 1978—the first African-American congresswoman to come from the deep South and the first woman ever elected to the Texas Senate (1966). She captured the attention of President Lyndon Johnson, who invited her to the White House for a preview of his 1967 civil rights message.
Contents
Early Life
A groundbreaking African-American politician, Barbara Jordan worked hard to achieve her dreams. She grew up in a poor black neighborhood in Houston, Texas. The daughter of a Baptist minister, Jordan was encouraged by her parents to strive for academic excellence. Her gift for language and building arguments was apparent in high school, where she was an award-winning debater and orator.
After graduating from Texas Southern University in 1956, Jordan continued her studies at Boston University Law School. She was one of the few black students in the program. Jordan returned to Texas after earning her degree and set up her law practice. At first, she worked out of her parents' home. Before long, Jordan became active in politics by campaigning for the Democratic presidential ticket of John F. Kennedy and fellow Texan Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1962, Jordan launched her first bid for public office, seeking a spot in the Texas legislature. It took two more tries for her to make history.
Political Career
In 1966, Jordan finally won a seat in the Texas legislature, becoming the first black woman to do so. She did not receive a warm welcome from her new colleagues initially, but she eventually won some of them over. Jordan sought to improve the lives of her constituents by helping usher through the state's first law on minimum wage. She also worked to create the Texas Fair Employment Practices Commission. In 1972, her fellow lawmakers voted her in as president pro tempore of the state senate. Jordan became the first African American woman to hold this post.
Advancing in her career, Jordan won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, she was thrust into the national spotlight during the Watergate scandal. Jordan stood as a moral compass during this time of crisis, calling for the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon for his involvement in this illegal political enterprise. "I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution," she said in a nationally televised speech during the proceedings.
At the 1976 Democratic National Convention, Jordan once again captured the public's attention with her keynote address. She told the crowd, "My presence here . . . is one additional bit of evidence that the American dream need not forever be deferred." Jordan had reportedly hoped to secure the position of U.S. attorney general within Jimmy Carter's administration after he won the election, but Carter gave the post to someone else.
Announcing that she wouldn't seek reelection, Jordan finished up her final term in 1979. Some thought that she might have gone farther in her political career, but it was later revealed that Jordan had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis around this time.
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