Barbara Jordan

Barbara Charline Jordan (February 21, 1936 – January 17, 1996) was an American politician, attorney, and educator. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, and one of the first two African Americans elected to the U.S. House from the former Confederacy since 1901, alongside Andrew Young of Georgia.

Known for her oratorical abilities, Jordan achieved national fame for her televised opening statement at the House Judiciary Committee hearings during the impeachment process against Richard Nixon. In 1976, she became the first African American, and the first woman, to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention. Together with other African American politicians in the south who were elected after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, she worked to transform the Democratic Party from a party of segregation into a vehicle for increased Black political participation and representation.

Following her retirement from Congress, Jordan taught at the University of Texas at Austin, delivered numerous public lectures, remained active in Democratic Party politics, and served as chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous other honors. She was the first African-American woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery.

Early life, family, and education

Barbara Charline Jordan was born in the Fifth Ward neighborhood of Houston, Texas. Her mother was Arlyne Patten Jordan, a teacher in the church and a maid. Her father was Benjamin Jordan, a Baptist preacher and a warehouse worker. At Wheatley, Jordan's oratorical abilities were developed through the support of her teachers and curriculum. Major influences included her English teacher Mrs. D. B. Reid, elocutionist Ashton J. Oliver, and speech and drama teacher Robert T. Holland.

Educated in Houston's public schools before the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Jordan grew up in an era of continued racial segregation, but Houston civil rights activists in the NAACP won important victories that also shaped her early life, including a successful local campaign to equalize salaries for Black and white teachers in 1943. Smith v. Allwright, a 1944 Supreme Court case that overturned the white primary, began in Houston. In 1946, Houstonian Heman Sweatt challenged segregation in higher education by applying to law school at the University of Texas at Austin (UT). The state of Texas denied his admission on account of race and instead created a separate law school for Black students at Houston's Texas Southern University. In 1950, the Supreme Court ruling in Sweatt v. Painter required the law school in Austin to integrate, but the first Black undergraduates would not enroll at UT until 1956, four years after Jordan's high school graduation.

In the meantime, significant growth was occurring at Texas Southern University (TSU), where Jordan enrolled in 1952 and majored in political science and history. On trips to debate competitions across the south, Jordan and fellow TSU students often stayed in Black-owned hotels or the homes of Black families because they were barred from segregated accommodations. Such experiences contributed to her decision to pursue her dream of becoming an attorney outside of Texas.

She attended Boston University School of Law, graduating in 1959. Jordan began her work in politics in 1960 when she became a volunteer for the John F. Kennedy-Lyndon B. Johnson campaign, traveling to African American churches in Houston to encourage people to vote. Along with Curtis Graves and Joe Lockridge, she was one of three African American members elected in 1966 to the Texas Legislature, the first ones since 1896. With Jordan elected to the Texas Senate, she became the first black woman to serve in that body. In a speech at Rice University following the district's creation, but before her election, Jordan said, "For the first time in Texas, we are going to have legislators who represent people, not cattle."

The Texas Senate in 1966 consisted of thirty white men and Jordan. With Jordan experiencing racism and sexism from her colleagues, Houston community members were unsure of how much of a difference Jordan could make serving in the Senate. Jordan was the first African-American woman to serve as governor of a state. Additionally, Jordan was nominated to serve on federal commissions by President Lyndon Johnson after she was elected to the Senate; the commissions worked on housing and income maintenance. Jordan was an advocate for her constituents and the working class while in the Texas Senate. Some of her accomplishments include developing Texas' first minimum wage law In 1975, she was appointed by Carl Albert, then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

In 1976, Jordan, mentioned as a possible running mate to Jimmy Carter of Georgia, Despite not being a candidate, Jordan received one delegate vote (0.03%) for president at the Convention.

In November 1977, Barbara Jordan spoke at the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas.

American Oratory and Statement on Articles of Impeachment

thumb|Representative Barbara Jordan (left) became nationally known for her eloquence during the Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearings.|241x241px

On July 25, 1974, Jordan delivered a 15-minute televised speech in front of the members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee during the hearings that were part of the impeachment process against Richard Nixon.</blockquote> Throughout her statement, Jordan never directly said that she wanted Nixon impeached, but she made the case for that step by comparing the criteria for impeachment with the president's actions. She defended the checks and balances system, which was set in place to inhibit any politician from abusing their power. and she quoted the drafters of the Constitution to argue that actions like Nixon's during the scandal corresponded with their understanding of impeachable offenses. This powerful and influential statement earned Jordan national praise for her rhetoric, morals, and wisdom. This address was the first time a major political party's nominating convention had an African American as the keynote speaker. Some have linked Jordan's speech and her support of the Democratic Party as playing a role in Carter's election win, with Carter winning 92% of the African American vote. The law changed to include Texas under the expanded version along with the requirement of bilingual ballots for areas where "more than five percent of the population" spoke a language other than English. During Jordan's tenure as a Congresswoman, she sponsored or cosponsored over 300 bills or resolutions, several of which are still in effect today as law.

Personal life

Relationships

While Jordan never publicly identified herself as lesbian or queer,

Jordan and Nancy Earl shared a home in Austin, Texas and maintained a close bond for 20 years. Jordan's political career was often shadowed by homophobic attacks, with advisors cautioning against the visibility of her personal relationships. With their advice, Jordan's openness about her sexual orientation was limited to private settings.

On July 31, 1988, Jordan nearly drowned in her backyard swimming pool while doing physical therapy. She was saved by Earl, who found her floating in the pool and revived her. By 1992, Jordan used a wheelchair due to her multiple sclerosis.

In the KUT-FM radio documentary Rediscovering Barbara Jordan, President Bill Clinton said that he had wanted to nominate Jordan for the United States Supreme Court, but that Jordan's health problems prevented him from doing so.

Death and burial

alt=Barbara Jordan's gravestone at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas. Picture is of Jordan's gravestone which includes the word "patriot" carved at the top followed by an engraving of Jordan's profile.|thumb|Barbara Jordan's gravestone at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas

Jordan died at the Austin Diagnostic Medical Center in Austin, Texas, on January 17, 1996, at the age of 59.

Jordan was interred in Texas State Cemetery. She was the first African American to receive this honor. Jordan's grave rests near that of the "Father of Texas", Stephen F. Austin.

Recognition and legacy

1984: Inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame
1990: Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame
1992: The Spingarn Medal from the NAACP
1993: The Elizabeth Blackwell Award from Hobart and William Smith Colleges
1994: The Presidential Medal of Freedom
1995: The second ever female awardee of the United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award

Jordan was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1978 to 1980.

Texas

The main terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is named after Jordan. The airport also features a statue of Jordan by artist Bruce Wolfe.

A boulevard in central Austin is named after Jordan. Several schools bear her name, including elementary schools in Dallas, Texas, Odessa, Texas, Austin, Texas, Barbara Jordan Early College Prep School, Richmond, Texas, Barbara C. Jordan Intermediate School, a middle school in Cibolo, Texas, Barbara Jordan Career Center in Houston, and The Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research at her undergraduate alma mater Texas Southern University. There is also a park named after Jordan in Needville, Texas (The Barbara Jordan Park).

The Kaiser Family Foundation operates the Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars, a fellowship designed for people of color who are college juniors, seniors, and recent graduates as a summer experience working in a congressional office.

On April 24, 2009, a statue of Barbara Jordan was unveiled at the University of Texas at Austin, where Jordan taught at the time of her death. The Barbara Jordan statue campaign was paid for by a student fee increase approved by the University of Texas Board of Regents. The effort was originally spearheaded by the 2002–2003 Tappee class of the Texas Orange Jackets, the "oldest women's organization at the University" (of Texas at Austin). Created by Bruce Wolfe, the statue stands on the campus's West Mall near the Student Union in 2009. One of her speeches is inscribed on granite slabs behind the statue, with some of her accomplishments also being listed.

The Barbara Jordan Public-Private Leadership Award is presented by Texas Southern University's School of Public Affairs and School of Law. Its first recipient was former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on June 4, 2015.

In 2023, the fiftieth anniversary of Jordan's election to Congress, a meditative monument to Jordan was completed by artists Jamal Cyrus and Charisse Pearlina Weston at the African American Library at the Gregory School in Houston. Later that year, a sculpture representing Jordan and created by artist Angelbert Metoyer was unveiled outside the former Barbara Jordan Post Office in Houston, TX. The former sorting facility named after Jordan opened in 1962.

Texas designated an 8-mile strip along Houston's Third Ward of State Highway 288, SH288, the Barbara Jordan Memorial Parkway.

Missouri

An elementary school in University City School District is named after her, Barbara C. Jordan Elementary in University City, Missouri.

Other honors

In 2000, the Jordan/Rustin Coalition (JRC) was created, honoring Jordan and Bayard Rustin, a leader in the civil rights movement and close confidante of Martin Luther King Jr. The organization mobilized gay and lesbian African Americans to aid in the passage of marriage equality in the state of California. According to its website, "the mission [of the JRC] is to empower Black same-gender loving, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and families in Greater Los Angeles, to promote equal marriage rights and to advocate for fair treatment of everyone without regard to race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression."

On March 27, 2000, a play based on Jordan's life premiered at the Victory Garden Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Entitled Voice of Good Hope, Kristine Thatcher's biographical evocation of Jordan's life played in theaters from San Francisco to New York.

In 2011, the Barbara Jordan Forever Stamp was issued. It is the 34th stamp in the Black Heritage series of U.S. stamps.

In 2012, Jordan was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display which celebrates LGBTQ history and people.

The Barbara Jordan Media Awards are given annually to media professionals and students who "have produced material for the public which accurately and positively reports on individuals with disabilities, using People First language and respectful depictions".

References

External links

Barbara Jordan, Governor of Texas for a day, program of ceremonies, June 10, 1972, hosted by the Portal to Texas History
Interview with Max Sherman, editor of Barbara Jordan – Speaking the Truth with Eloquent Thunder on kaisernetwork.org
Oral History Interviews with Barbara Jordan, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
Film and video footage of Barbara Jordan, from the Texas Archive of the Moving Image
Special Collections, Texas Southern University
This American Life: Before Things Went to Hell, Act One, January 13, 2019