· Rep. Barbara Jordan, D-Texas, c. 1975. Dev O'Neill/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images “Lyndon Johnson used his influence and urged the Speaker to put her on the Judiciary Committee,” said Sherman.
A speech by African-American lawyer Edith S. Sampson (who later became the first black judge in Illinois) inspired Barbara to become an attorney. After graduating magna cum laude in 1956 from Texas Southern University, where she was also a champion debater, Barbara earned a law degree from Boston University.
 · Jordan attended the segregated Phillis Wheatley High School, where a career day speech by Edith Sampson, a Black lawyer, inspired her to become an attorney. Jordan was a member of the inaugural ...
 · 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 ...
STEVE EMBER: In high school, Barbara heard a black woman lawyer speak. Miss Jordan decided to become a lawyer. She attended the all-black college, Texas Southern University in Houston.
Barbara Jordan was a trailblazing legislator, gifted orator, and legendary stateswoman. Image from the U.S. News & World Report Collection at the Library of Congress.
On July 12, 1976, Barbara delivered another landmark speech, this time as the first African American and the first woman to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. Her remarks still resonate today: “We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are people in search of a national community. We are a people trying not only to solve the problems of the present, but we are attempting on a larger scale to fulfill the promise of America.”
When President Gerald Ford signed the amendments, Barbara stood over his left shoulder. Later she asked Ford to give her an autographed copy of the cards he read from during his Rose Garden ceremony speech. “That was my first big legislative victory and I wanted a memento,” she later recalled.
Noted For: Barbara Jordan was a Texas attorney who became the first African American (in the post-Reconstruction era) elected to the state senate, and the first African-American woman from the South elected to the United States House of Representatives. She was also the first woman to keynote the Democratic National Convention.
READ MORE: How Barbara Jordan's 1974 Speech Marked a Turning Point in the Watergate Scandal
READ MORE: How Barbara Jordan's 1974 Speech Marked a Turning Point in the Watergate Scandal.
The impeachment speech helped lead to Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal and won Jordan national acclaim for her rhetoric, intellect and integrity. Two years later she was asked to deliver the keynote address at the 1976 Democratic National Convention—another first for an African American woman.
With support from her close advisor Lyndon B. Johnson, Jordan was appointed to key posts including on the House Judiciary Committee. On July 25, 1974, Jordan gave the 15-minute opening statement of the Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearing for Richard Nixon.
Barbara Jordan: Years in Congress. Five months later Jordan ran for Congress as the Democratic nominee for Houston’s 18th District. She won, becoming the first African American woman from a Southern state to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Did you know? Texas congresswoman Barbara Jordan's great-grandfather, Edward Patton, was one of several Black representatives who served in the Texas legislature during Reconstruction.
Barbara Charline Jordan was born February 21, 1936, in her parents’ home in Houston. Her father, Benjamin Jordan, was a Baptist minister and warehouse clerk. Her mother Arlyne was a maid, housewife and church teacher.
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. 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.
ico_print. Barbara Jordan was a U.S. congressional representative from Texas and was the first African American congresswoman to come from the Deep South.
Jordan Peele is an actor, director and writer known for his work on Comedy Central's 'Key & Peele' and his blockbuster hit horror film 'Get Out.'.
Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is a former American basketball player who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships and won the Most Valuable Player Award five times. (1963–) Person.
President Clinton said, "Barbara always stirred our national conscience."
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.
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.
It can be done if we restore the belief that we share a sense of national community, that we share a common national endeavor.”. Barbara Jordan, former LBJ School professor, was the first woman to serve in the Texas Senate and ...
The 16th Annual Barbara Jordan Forum, held on Feb. 21, 2012, brought current students, faculty, alumni and the community together to commemorate the life and legacy of Barbara Jordan, a politician, policymaker and a professor at the LBJ School. In this video, LBJ School Dean Robert Hutchings, Georgia State Representative and Barbara Jordan Keynote Speaker Stacey Abrams (MPAff '98) and three Barbara Jordan student co-chairs share their thoughts and insights into the legacy of Barbara Jordan and the importance of the Forum.
On July 12, 1976, Barbara Jordan , a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, became the first African American woman to deliver the keynote address to the Democratic National Convention.
Barbara Jordan , former LBJ School professor, was the first woman to serve in the Texas Senate and the first southern African American woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The former quote was taken from her 1976 Democratic National Convention speech, rated as one of the top speeches given throughout the entire 20th century.
Equally impressive, she continued to serve after her political career by humbly passing her knowledge down to the next generation as a professor here at the LBJ school. When alumni speak of her candor and wisdom they witnessed in her classroom, I cannot deny my envy. I have always been awestruck by the clarity of Barbara Jordan’s message; her conviction and the coherence of her ethical appeals.
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).
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).
An elementary school in University City School District is named after her, Barbara C. Jordan Elementary in University City, Missouri.
Jordan's 1976 Democratic National Convention keynote address, the first major convention keynote speech ever by a woman and the first by an African American, was listed as #5 in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank).
The recommendations made by the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform under Jordan's leadership are frequently cited by American immigration restrictionists.
In 1976, Jordan, mentioned as a possible running mate to Jimmy Carter of Georgia, became instead the first African-American woman to deliver a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. Despite not being a candidate, Jordan received one delegate vote (0.03%) for president at the Convention.
Jordan is the only African-American woman to serve as governor of a state. During her time in the Texas Legislature, Jordan sponsored or cosponsored some 70 bills. Barbara Jordan delivering the keynote address before the 1976 Democratic National Convention.