History | Feature Spotlight
Born Barbara Charline Jordan on February 21, 1936 in Houston, Texas. Jordan was the youngest of three children born to Arlyne and Benjamin Jordan, a public speaker and pastor respectively.
Following her graduation from Phyllis Wheatley High School in 1952 she attended Texas Southern University where she earned her bachelor’s degree. Next Jordan attended Boston University to get a law degree. Once she passed the bar exam she began practicing in her hometown.
For her first job, she worked as an administrative assistant for a county judge. That same year, she began her political career, working on the John F. Kennedy presidential campaign. In 1966 Jordan was elected to the Texas Senate becoming the first African American member since 1883 and the first woman ever elected.
Throughout her political career helped codify and preserve issues such as the environment, anti-discrimination clauses in state business contracts, and urban legislation, the last being a political challenge in a state dominated by rural interests.
In 1967 then U.S. President. Lyndon Johnson invited Johnson to the White House to preview his 1967 civil rights message.
Jordan remained in the Texas Senate until 1972 when she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas’s 18th district. In the House, she advocated for legislation to improve the lives of minority groups, the poor, and the disenfranchised.
In 1974, Jordan became a national figure after participating in the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on the impeachment of the U.S. President. Richard M. Nixon. The televised hearing was watched by millions. Jordan’s impassioned speech which was watched by millions is still considered one of the greatest speeches in US history.
By 1979 Jordan retired from politics and spent her remaining years as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas.
While not openly LGBTQ+ Jordan had a female partner Nancy Earl, an educational psychologist who she was with until her death.
During her career, Jordan received of 31 honorary doctorates and numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, Spingarn Medal: Presented by the NAACP, Texas and National Women's Halls of Fame: being inducted into both.
On January 17, 1996, Jordan passed away from complications with pneumonia and leukemia.
Jordan was laid to rest at Texas State Cemetery next to Stephen F. Austin thus becoming the first African American to be buried at the cemetery,