Celebrating Black History Month: Barbara Jordan
October 28, 2020A groundbreaking African American politician, Barbara Jordan worked hard to achieve her dreams. She was a lawyer, educator and a U.S. congressional representative from Texas and was the first African American congresswoman to come from the Deep South, and the first woman ever elected to the Texas Senate (1966).
Jordan grew up in Houston, Texas and was encouraged from a young age by her parents to strive for academic excellence. Her gift for language and building arguments was apparent in high school, where she was an award-winning debater and orator.
After graduating from Texas Southern University in 1956, Jordan continued her studies at Boston University Law School. She was one of the few Black students in the program. Jordan returned to Texas after earning her degree and set up her law practice. At first, she worked out of her parents' home. Before long, Jordan became active in politics by campaigning for the Democratic presidential ticket of John F. Kennedy and fellow Texan Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1962, Jordan launched her first bid for public office, seeking a spot in the Texas legislature. It took two more tries for her to make history.
Jordan captured the attention of President Lyndon Johnson, who invited her to the White House for a preview of his 1967 civil rights message.
She 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, becoming the first African American woman to hold this post. in 1972 she won election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Although she acquired a reputation as an effective legislator, Jordan did not become a national figure until 1974, when her participation in the hearings held by the House Judiciary Committee on the impeachment of Pres. Richard M. Nixon was televised nationwide. “My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution,” said Jordan in her powerful speech.
At the 1976 Democratic National Convention, Jordan once again captured the public's attention with her keynote address. She told the crowd, "My presence here . . . is one additional bit of evidence that the American dream need not forever be deferred."
After finishing up her final term in 1979, 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.
In 1991 she served as a special counsel on ethics for Texas Governor Ann Richards. The following year, Jordan took the national stage once again to deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention. Her health had declined by this point, having being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and she had to give her address from her wheelchair.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed Jordan to head up the Commission on Immigration Reform. He also honoured her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom that same year.
“There was simply something about her that made you proud to be a part of the country that produced her,” said former Texas governor Ann Richards in remembrance of her colleague. President Clinton said, “Barbara always stirred our national conscience.”
Although she never publicly came out, Jordan was in a more than 20-year-old relationship with a woman named Nancy Earl. This news was shared after her passing from pneumonia, a complication from her leukemia, in 1996 in the Houston Chronicle’s obituary of the late congresswoman.
In her autobiography, Jordan described the camping trip during her tenure on the state Senate where she met her long-time partner Nancy Earl as somewhere she could relax and feel safe. Jordan’s depiction of Earl gives insight to their time spent together: “[S]he wanted to pick watercress in the shade of cypress trees, plant grass on the back slopes, [and] be outdoors”.
Jordan never publicly came out at the advice of her political advisers, who shared their belief that the “image of two women being so close could damage her political aspirations.” In the decades since, LGBT+ leaders of colour have worked tirelessly to change this perception. Jordan continues to serve as an inspiration and role model for the LGBT+ community.
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