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Barbara Jordan
Copyright © All rights reserved
By Anthony James & Ken Chapman
Abridged by Beth Lanier
Barbara Jordan gained national recognition as a politician first in the
Texas State Senate and then in the United States House of Representatives
where she had a nationwide television audience as the House Judiciary
Committee considered articles of impeachment against President Richard
Nixon. Blessed with an incredible voice and stirring words, she electrified
everyone who listened—and people did listen.
Barbara Jordan was born February 21, 1936. She attended Texas Southern
University, earning a degree in government before enrolling in Boston
University Law School. She graduated in 1959, one of just two black women
in the graduating class of 128. Shortly thereafter, Jordan passed both the
Massachusetts and Texas bar exams and opened a private practice in Texas.
Her first political success came while working for the Kennedy Johnson
ticket in the 1960 presidential campaign, when Jordan’s black voter program
led to an unprecedented eighty percent voter turnout in the predominately
black precincts of Harris County.
Jordan became increasingly involved in Texas politics in the early 60’s,
serving as speaker for the Harris County Democratic Party and twice running
unsuccessfully for the Texas House of Representatives. In 1965, Jordan ran
again, this time for a newly created eleventh state senate seat. Harris
County elected two black people that year—Jordan to the Senate and Curtis
Graves to the House. As the first black person elected to the Texas State
Senate since 1883, as well as the first woman ever elected, Jordan worked
hard to fit in. In her six years in the Texas Senate, she sponsored most of
the state’s environmental legislation, authored the first Texas minimum wage
law, forced the state to close every discrimination clause in all of its
business contracts, and pushed the first package of urban legislation
through a rurally-minded state government dominated by white males. It was
an impressive list of accomplishments.
In
1972, Jordan was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives. With Lyndon
Johnson’s help, Jordan was assigned to the Judiciary Committee. Shortly
thereafter, the Watergate scandal prompted the Judiciary Committee to
initiate impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon. Jordan
disliked the idea of impeachment, but felt that the evidence demanded a
presentation of Nixon’s indictment to the Senate. On July 25, 1974, during
nationally televised speech in favor of impeachment, Jordan used her skill
as a lawyer and as an orator to defend the constitutional issues that she
felt were pertinent to her decision and to persuade others of her
rectitude. Newsweek called her speech, “The most memorable indictment of
Richard Nixon to emerge since the House impeachment.”
In
the first session of her term, Jordan proposed a civil rights amendment to
the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act mandating the use of federal
funds in a non-discriminatory fashion. She also introduced a bill proposing
the repeal of Fair Trade Laws that interfered with free competition. Her
reputation as one of the great orators of the twentieth century was
sustained by her keynote address to the 1976 Democratic National Convention.
She said that, “We cannot improve on the system of government handed down to
us by the families of the republic. But we can find new ways to implement
that system and realize our destiny.”
In
1978, Jordan retired from politics to a teaching position at the University
of Texas, where she was later appointed to the Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial
Chair on National Policy. Though diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1988
and later confined to a wheelchair, Jordan never slowed. In 1994, President
Bill Clinton appointed her to chair a task force on illegal immigration.
Her plan to create a national employment registry to monitor immigration
received much praise from politicians and the public. Because of her
enormous contributions, President Clinton awarded Jordan with a Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1995.
Barbara Jordan died
on January 17, 1996, at age 59, and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery,
the first and only black woman to be honored thus. Jordan’s superior
intelligence and legislative skills earned her great respect, and all who
met her were impressed with her passion and generosity of spirit.
For information about Ken
Chapman and Associates’ Leadership Development Programs, contact Ken Chapman
at 205.366.0265 or email Ken at
kchapman@leaderscode.com.
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