"But this is the great danger America faces. That we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region, individual against individual. Each seeking to satisfy private wants."
Barbara Jordan
Barbara C. Jordan is best remembered for her defense of the Constitution during the impeachment hearings of President Richard Nixon in 1974. Jordan's reputation as a national leader was heightened by her involvement in the House Judiciary Committee and the hearings that resulted in the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
However, Jordan's political career spans several decades and includes service in
the Texas Senate, the House of Representatives and as a presidential and
gubernatorial adviser. Jordan's career demonstrates her commitment to
fairness and to legislation that protects the underserved and
underrepresented populations of the United States.
Jordan was born on Feb. 21, 1936 in Houston, Texas.
Following her graduation from Texas Southern University in 1956, Jordan
went on to Boston University Law School where she graduated in 1959.
Jordan's political involvement began in 1960 when she became active in
the Kennedy/Johnson presidential campaign. Six years later in 1966,
Jordan became the first African American woman to be elected to the
Texas State Senate where she served from 1966-1972.
Jordan's tenure in the Texas Senate was notable. She was the first
African American to chair a majority committee, Labor and Management
Relations in the Texas Senate. As a senator, she sponsored Workman's
Compensation Act, which increased the maximum benefits paid to injured
workers. In March of 1972, Jordan was unanimously elected president pro
tempore of the Texas Legislature. In June of that same year, she was
named Governor of Texas for a day.
In 1976, Barbara Jordan became the first woman and first African
American to give the keynote speech at the Democratic National
Convention. In 1979, she retired from her career as a public servant
and returned to Texas as a full professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson
School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. Although retired,
she remained heavily involved in politics. In 1987, she spoke out
against the Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. In 1992, she was asked
to be keynote speaker again at the Democratic National Convention.
Jordan also chaired a congressional commission that advocated increased
restriction of immigration and increased penalties on employers that
violated US immigration regulations in 1995.
Jordan was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in the
early 1970's. On January 17, 1996, she died of complications from
pneumonia. Jordan lay in state at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library on the
campus of The University of Texas at Austin for a public good-bye. Her
papers are housed at the Barbara Jordan Archives at her alma mater,
Texas Southern University.