Barbara Jordan:
Barbara Jordan was born on February 21, 1936 in Houston, Texas to Reverend Benjamin, a Baptist minister, and Arlyn Jordan, a domestic worker. She attended Roberson Elementary and Phyllis Wheatley High School.
While at Wheatley, she was a member of the Honor Society and excelled in debating. She graduated in 1952 in the upper five percent of her class.
She attended Texas Southern University and pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Barbara was a national champion debater, defeating opponents from Yale and Brown and tying Harvard University.
In 1956, she graduated magna cum laude from Texas Southern with a double major in political science and history. She expressed an interest in attending Harvard University School of Law, but opted to go to Boston University and graduated in 1959.
PLAYLIST:
In honor of Women's History Month, I pay tribute to Barbara Jordan, an ardent fighter for justice, a brilliant orator and a powerful politician.
In 1972, Barbara Jordan was elected to serve in the Ninety-third Congress, becoming the first African American woman elected to Congress from Texas and the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the South. While in Congress, Barbara Jordan came to national attention with her strong presence on the committee holding Watergate hearings, calling for impeachment of President Nixon on July 25, 1974.
In 1976, Jordan was the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention at which she nominated President Jimmy Carter. She became the first African American to give a keynote speech at a major party’s political convention. Her keynote speech was powerful and memorable.
In 1990, the National Women’s Hall of Fame voted her one of the most influential women of the twentieth century. Barbara Jordan, whoe refused to be defined by her disability, struggled for many years with leukemia and multiple sclerosis. She died in 1996.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Jordan
http://theaustintimes.com/2011/02/black-history-month-barbara-jordan/
http://www.beejae.com/bjordan.htm
