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Content provided by the American Bar Association Division for Public Education. Visit the Division for Public Education's website to learn more about the law and its role in society (www.abanet.org/publiced). For more profiles of pioneers in the legal profession, visit the Division for Public Education's Raising the Bar: Pioneers in the Legal Profession website at www.abanet.org/publiced/raisingthebar.html.
Barbara Jordan
(1936-1996)
(1936-1996)
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Barbara Jordan, an accomplished lawyer, legislator, orator, and educator, led a life distinguished by noteworthy achievements, many of which were groundbreaking "firsts." She became the first African American to serve in the Texas senate since Reconstruction when she was elected to that institution in 1966. She became the first black elected official to preside over a state legislature when she became president pro tempore of the Texas senate in 1972. She became the first black woman to serve as a governor in the history of the United States when she served as Texas governor for a day on June 10, 1972. She became the first African-American woman from the south and the first black Texan elected to the U. S. House of Representatives when, in 1972, she was elected to be the first representative from the newly created 18th congressional district. She also became the first woman and the first African American to deliver the keynote address at a major political party convention when she keynoted the 1976 Democratic National Convention. Born in Houston, Texas on February 21, 1936, Barbara Charline Jordan was the youngest daughter of Benjamin and Arlyne Jordan. She attended Phyllis Wheatley High School, graduating in the top 5th percent of her class, where she excelled in debating. Jordan went on to study at Texas Southern University, where her legacy of firsts began when she was a member of the first debate team from a black university to compete in the annual state forensic tournament. She won first place in junior oratory, one of her many first-place trophies as a debater. After graduating magna cum laude from Texas Southern in 1956, with a double major in political science and history, Jordan went to law school at Boston University. She earned her law degree in 1959, spent a year teaching political science at Tuskegee Institute and then returned to Texas in 1960 to set up a private law practice in Houston. In 1962 and 1964 Jordan ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, but went on to serve as administrative assistant to a Harris County judge (once again the first African-American woman to hold the position) and as project coordinator of a non-profit corporation that helped the unemployed. She served in the Texas Senate for six years before her election to Congress in 1972. While a member of the U.S. Congress, Jordan served on the House Committee on Government Operations and the Steering and Policy Committee of the Democratic Caucus. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the televised Watergate-related impeachment hearings of President Richard M. Nixon in 1974, her eloquence and defense of constitutional principles earned Jordan national recognition. Quoting James Madison, Jordan noted "A President is impeachable if he attempts to subvert the constitution." In her rich, booming voice, she then asserted, "If the impeachment provision in the Constitution of the United States will not reach the offenses charged here, then perhaps that eighteenth century Constitution should be abandoned to a twentieth century paper shredder….It is reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision." Throughout her legislative career, Jordan was a champion for the disadvantaged and an advocate for civil rights. In 1979, after serving three distinguished terms in Congress, Jordan retired from politics to become a professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where she taught for 16 years. She was the recipient of honorary degrees from 25 colleges and universities, including Texas Southern University, Tuskegee Institute, Princeton and Harvard. In 1991, Texas Governor Ann Richards appointed her as Special Counsel for Ethics, and in 1994 she served as chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. After fighting multiple sclerosis and other ailments valiantly for many years, Barbara Jordan died of complications from pneumonia on January 17, 1996. She was buried at the Texas State Cemetery, which is an honor reserved for state heroes. Jordan was the first African-American woman to be buried there. The program prepared for the memorial service held in her honor at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, included these words: "Barbara Jordan exemplified honor, dignity and integrity. She epitomized the true meaning of friendship, loyalty and love. A dynamic leader, powerful politician, riveting orator, and pioneer for all, her impact transcended age, sex, and ethnicity. Barbara Jordan left timeless lessons of tenacity and perseverance for those who will follow in her footsteps for generations to come." (Originally published in 2003) |
