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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.
Videos see all videos
Barbara Jordan - Keynote Address
Watch a speech by Barbara Charline Jordan, the first African-American Congresswoman.
Thurgood Marshall - Mini Biography
Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American to serve on the United States Supreme Court. He was also one of the most effective Civil Rights crusaders of the 20th Century.
A. Philip Randolph - Civil Rights Pioneer
Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, speaks about the pioneering role labor leader and activist A. Philip Randolph played in the American Civil Rights movement.
Jesse Jackson - Mini Biography
Jesse Jackson saw the injustice of segregation and worked for Dr. Martin Luther King. Jackson fought for equal rights through his organizations, Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition, and in 1984 and 1988, he ran for President.
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Play NowBarbara Jordan. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 11:35, May 22, 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 22 May 2013].
"Barbara Jordan." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 22 2013, 11:35 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 22, 2013].
"Barbara Jordan," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991 (accessed May 22, 2013).
Barbara Jordan [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 22] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991.
Barbara Jordan, http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991 (last visited May 22, 2013).
Barbara Jordan. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991. Accessed May 22, 2013.
She took some time to reflect on her life and political career, penning Barbara Jordan: A Self-Portrait (1979). Jordan soon turned her attention toward educating future generations of politicians and public officials, accepting a professorship at the University of Texas at Austin. She became the Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair of Public Policy in 1982.
Contents
Later Years
While her educational work was the focus of her later years, Jordan never fully stepped away from public life. She served as a special counsel on ethics for Texas Governor Ann Richards in 1991. The following year, Jordan once again took the national stage to deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention. Her health had declined by this point, and she had to give her address from her wheelchair. Still, Jordan spoke to rally her party with the same powerful and thoughtful style she had displayed 16 years earlier.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed Jordan to head up the Commission on Immigration Reform. He also honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom that same year. She passed away two years later, on January 17, 1996, in Austin, Texas. Jordan died of pneumonia, a complication of her battle with leukemia.
The nation mourned the loss of a great pioneer who shaped the political landscape with her dedication to the Constitution, her commitment to ethics and her impressive oratory skills. "There was simply something about her that made you proud to be a part of the country that produced her," said former Texas governor Ann Richards in remembrance of her colleague. President Clinton said, "Barbara always stirred our national conscience."
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View groupAfrican-Americans have a long history of activism in America, from fighting for the right to vote to pushing for integrated public spaces. Activists like Stokely Carmichael organized freedom rides, James Meredith fought to integrate blacks and whites at the University of Mississippi, and Rosa Parks instigated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These protests were often legal and nonviolent, and made a powerful impact on civil rights in the United States. With the help of activists like these—and many others—the country slowly worked to acknowledge the basic rights and contributions of African-Americans. Activists outisde of the U.S. include Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, who have fought against apartheid in South Africa. Learn more about the many black activists who fought against the odds in order to achieve equality.
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View group"Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love." Stated by legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., these words represent a basic human philosophy to which black history's greatest leaders have passionately subscribed. Learn more about the world's most revered civil rights activists, known for their fight against social injustices and lasting impact on the lives of black citizens, including Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Nelson Mandela, Nina Simone, Mary McLeod Bethune, Lena Horne, Marva Collins, Rosa Parks, W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
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