A Texas politician worthy of praise.

For some time, the overall impression of what makes a politician has been slipping further and further into the sewer. The corrupt and ignoble have been the norm for so long, it’s almost difficult to remember that it wasn’t always this way. In fact, not too long ago (relatively speaking) there was a woman from Texas who deserved every bit of the respect and admiration she received – Barbara Jordan.

The daughter of a minister in Texas, after her prestigious education (including being a national debate champion), she became the first Black to hold elected office in the Texas state legislature. Eventually she moved to the national congress.

Her greatest legacy, however, may well be the blazing imprint of her integrity. She did not acknowledge her own boundaries in life, and refused to accept that any person should not have an equal footing in our society. A friend to presidents and immigrant workers alike, she refused to compromise for what she knew was right.

After retiring from public service and going back to Texas to teach, she was taken from us too soon by disease. Someday, perhaps someone else can pick up her cause of hope, and move forward with the power, grace and honor with which she lived her life.

I do not know this woman. But now I am inspired to find out about her. She sounds, in a word, remarkable.

Barbara Jordan was the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Congress from the South.


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Barbara Jordan was born in the Fifth Ward of Houston, Texas to a Black Baptist minister, Benjamin Jordan, and a domestic worker, Arlyne Jordan. She attended Roberson Elementary and Phyllis Wheatley High School.
While at Wheatley, she was a member of the Honor Society and excelled in debating. She graduated in 1952 in the upper five percent of her class. She wanted to study political science at the University of Texas-Austin, but was discouraged because the school was still segregated.

She attended Texas Southern University and pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Barbara was a national champion debater, defeating her opponents from such schools as Yale and Brown and tying Harvard University.

In 1956, she graduated magna cum laude from Texas Southern with a double major in political science and history. She expressed an interest in attending Harvard University School of Law, but opted to go to Boston University and graduated in 1959.

Ms. Jordan taught political science at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama for one year before returning to Houston in 1960 to take the bar examination and set up a private law practice.

She ran for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives in 1962 and 1964, but lost both times.... however, she made history when she was elected to the newly drawn Texas Senate seat in 1966, thereby becoming the first Black to serve in that body since 1883. She was an oddity at that time, as the first Black woman in that state's legislature.

Her brief record in the Texas State Senate is viewed as somewhat of a phenomenon. On March 21, 1967 she became the first Black elected official to preside over that body; she was the first Black state senator to chair a major committee, Labor and Management Relations, and the first freshman senator ever named to the Texas Legislative Council.

When the Texas legislature convened in special session in March, 1972, Senator Jordan was unanimously elected president pro tempore. In June of that year, she was honored by being named Governor for a Day. Shortly, thereafter she decided to run for Congress and was elected, in Nov. 1972, from the newly drawn Eighteenth Congressional District in Houston.

Both as a state senator and as a U.S. Congressman, Jordan sponsored bills that championed the cause of poor, Black, and disadvantaged people. One of the most important bills as senator was the Workman's Compensation Act, which increased the maximum benefits paid to injured workers. As a congresswoman, she sponsored legislation to broaden the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to cover Mexican Americans in Texas and other southwestern states and to extend its authority to those states where minorities had been denied the right to vote or had had their rights restricted by unfair registration practices, such as literacy tests.

She gained national prominence for the position she took and the statement she made at the 1974 impeachment hearing of President Richard Nixon. In casting a "yes" vote, Jordan stated,"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total."Having become a national celebrity, Ms. Jordan was chosen as a keynote speaker for the Democratic National Convention in 1976, and again in 1992. She was the first Black selected to keynote a major political convention.

President Jimmy Carter considered her for attorney general and U.N. Ambassador but she chose to remain in Congress. She was seriously thinking about challenging Sen. John Tower for re-election in 1978, but became ill and retired from politics.

She became a Professor of Public Affairs at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs. She was very close to President Johnson, often visiting him at the White House as a state Senator.In 1987, she became an eloquent voice against Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. She served as an unpaid adviser on ethics for former Gov. Ann Richards of Texas and was praised for her work on the Clinton panel on Immigration Reform.

Barbara Jordan died of complications from pneumonia on January 17, 1996.

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What a wonderful woman- Politician- teacher!- Role Model! Human being!!!

I remember hearing her speak at the Democratic convention and I was just blown away! Such eloquence! Such passion! Her speech is very moving when read, but even more powerful if you can hear her delivery and her strong, distinctive voice!

Thanks for reminding me of this wonderful figure!

From Barbara Boxer's tribute address to the Senate upon Ms. Jordan's death:

"Speaking with an authority and voice that could
only be Barbara Jordan's, she issued a new challenge to each and every
one of us to reexamine our relationships with each other and what we
stand together for as a nation. Above all else, she encouraged us to
put our principles into action where help was needed most--in the
hearts of our great cities.
She said, ``We need to change the decaying inner cities to places
where hope lives. Can we all get along? I say we answer that question
with a resounding `yes'.'
Throughout her life Barbara Jordan was a voice for common ground, for
the ties that bind. Hers were powerful, healing, uplifting words that
challenged and inspired women and minorities, indeed all Americans, to
reach for something higher and to believe in themselves and their own
ability to change the world and make it a better place.
Her life was a testament to that idea.
A nation mourns a great loss, but it is my hope that the spirit of
Barbara Jordan will live on forever in the many Americans who have been
touched deeply by her powerful words and exemplary life. I certainly
have been."

Well, THAT'S bizarre! I didn't see this 'resurrection' before posting in the Ann thread - but I did reference Ms. Jordan there.

I guess, if nothing else, I can be commended for consistancy!

And thank goodness Elph posted some info about Barbara - otherwise, there'd be some real head-scratching going on!

brd - she was, and so far remains, at the top of my list of public servants - bar none. I would have given ANYTHING for her to have a greater influence. But I don't blame her a bit for her retreat back into the private sector. It had to have been hell to have had her perspective and try to deal with the status quo - especially with her deteriorating health.

But her legacy stands for those who are interested and motivated enough.

On a side note, I was DISGUSTED when the Advocate 'outed' her in a cover story after her death. It wasn't something she wanted to be made a focus - and their shameful action was just an attempt to grab attention and use a dead person's reputation for personal gain by association. It took me years to get over that craven act.

Ooops - the definition of chagrined, here.

But yes, she was for ALL - especially the poor - which is why her personal life she kept out of the discussion, knowing the blockades that would arise.

I REALLY would have followed her lead almost anywhere.

Updated On: 9/14/06 at 12:33 AM

Her vocal style matched with what she had to say - which she actually wrote and believed - should make our current crop of 'leaders' ashamed - at the VERY least!

He's certainly someone to watch, brd. I just worry about his inner response to all the attention. Integrity is something rare, and easily circumvented. But goodness knows we could use a voice that isn't easily dismissed - so here's hoping!