African American Hero of the Day

Barbara Jordan (1936-1996)

U.S. Congresswoman, Civil Rights Leader

Jordan was born on February 21, 1936, in Houston, Texas. She attended Phillis Wheatley High School, where she graduated as a member of the honor society in 1952. In 1956 Jordan received a B.A. from Texas Southern University in history and political science. She went on to Boston University, where she earned a J.D. in 1959.

After teaching at Tuskegee Institute for a year, Jordan returned to Houston, where she practiced law and was appointed administrative assistant to a Harris County judge. In 1966 Jordan was elected to the Texas Senate. She was the first African American to serve as president pro tem of that body and to chair the important Labor and Management Relations Committee. In 1972 Jordan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she stayed until 1978. During her terms in both the Texas Senate and the U.S. House, Jordan was known as a champion of civil rights, minorities, and the poor.

From 1979 to 1982 she was a professor at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the Austin campus of the University of Texas. In 1982 she was named recipient of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Centennial Chair of National Policy. In 1993 Jordan was named chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform by President Bill Clinton. Jordan, who had suffered from multiple sclerosis and leukemia, died due to complications of pneumonia on January 17, 1996.

Jordan co-authored two books, Barbara Jordan: A Self-Portrait (1979) and The Great Society: A Twenty Year Critique (1986). She served on the Democratic Caucus Steering and Policy Committee, and in 1976 and 1992 she was the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention. Jordan was an accomplished politician and humanitarian. She received over twenty-seven honorary degrees and had an endowed chair in the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She was listed in the 1976 Ladies Home Journal's 100 Most Influential Women in America and Time magazine's Ten Women of the Year. She was awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award and membership in the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1984. Jordan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, in 1994, presented by President Bill Clinton.

From African American Almanac: 400 Years of Triumph, Courage and Excellence by Lean'tin Bracks, (c) 2012 Visible Ink Press(R) A wealth of milestones, inspiration, and challenges met . . .