Wonder Woman of the Week: Barbara Jordan

Barbara Jordan is remembered today as one of the most important US members of Congress in American history. She was one of the first African-American Congresswomen and one of the first African-Americans to serve in the US Senate from the Deep South. She played major part in the Kennedy Presidential campaign, the Nixon Watergate hearings, and her death in 1996 sparked a national outpour of emotion. Barbara Jordan was one of the most important women in United States History and is the Wonder Woman of the Week.

As a child, Barbara Jordan grew up in a poor black neighborhood in Houston, Texas.. Her father was a Baptist Minister and both parents urged Jordan to become well-educated. In high school, Jordan became an award-winning debater and orator; working on a gift for language and public speaking. In 1956, Jordan graduated from Texas Southern University and continued her studies at Boston University Law School. After earning her law degree, Jordan returned to her home state to practice law. [1]

While a lawyer, Barbara Jordan had to work out of her parents’ house until her first political opportunity presented itself. A fellow Texan was running for Vice President, and Jordan hitched herself to the campaign. In 1960, Jordan organized a “get-out-the-vote” campaign in Houston’s forty African-American precincts which helped John F. Kennedy become president. In 1962 and 64, Jordan ran for the Texas House of Representatives, but lost both times. In 1966, she ran for the Texas Senate and won becoming the first African American state senator in the entire United States since 1883 AND the first African-American to ever hold the post. [2]

Barbara Jordan ran for United States Congress in 1971 beating out a fellow African-American for the post. Jordan made it clear what her role in Congress would be when she spoke, “I’m not going to Washington and turn things upside down in a day. I’ll only be one of 435. But the 434 will know I am there.” She won with over 80% of the vote. [2]

During her time in the US Legislature- as both Congresswoman and Senator- Barbara Jordan made a strong name for herself. She supported bills assisting the poor and racial minorities. She helped expand the Voting Rights Act which paved the way for Mexican Americans in Texas to have easier access to the polls. Above all of that, Jordan’s greatest fame came from her part in the 1974 Watergate hearings. She delivered what is considered today as the most powerful speech from the ordeal.

“My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. I am no going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.”

In 1976, Jordan delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention which rallied the party and helped Jimmy Carter become the elected Democratic Candidate for the presidential election. After leaving Congress in 1979, Jordan rejected offers to practice corporate law and instead accepted a teaching position at the LBJ School. [3]

Barbara Jordan ended her career having made major contributions to presidential campaigns, state and national legislatures, and one of the most historic impeachments in history. Like many Millennial college graduates, Jordan had to move back in with her parents after college and practiced law from her parents’ basement. She moved on though, taking a chance on a presidential election. Her work on the campaign helped John F Kennedy become the president. She failed twice to become a Texas state Congresswoman, an ordeal that would make most people quit. Instead, she kept working and became a Texas State Senator. She later became a Texas Representative to the US Legislature, worked hard to help the poor, and delivered the most powerful speech of the Watergate hearings.

“Barbara Jordan Biography.” 2015. Biography. Accessed 14 October 2015. http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-jordan-9357991#early-life

“Jordan, Barbara Charline.” 2015. history.house.gov. Accessed 14 October 2015. http://history.house.gov/People/Detail/16031

Scarborough, Megan. “A Voice That Could Not Be Stilled.” 13 October 2014. University of Texas. Accessed 14 October 2015. https://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2003/jordan.html