Barbara Jordan: A Pioneer for Equality

As the first African-American woman to be elected into the House of Representatives

from Texas, it’s not hard to understand how Barbara Jordan gained national recognition. Jordan

had often communicated her ideas through powerful oral speeches- similar to her own mother

who spoke at churches. It’s also possible she was heavily influenced by her grandfather to

become the woman she did. Her grandfather read to her from dictionaries to further develop her

speaking skills. Jordan had watched him be unjustly convicted of assault and murder crimes by

the Houston, Texas legal system (Contemporary Black Biography 2010). This opened her eyes to

the contradictory standards between white Americans and African-Americans encouraged by

segregation. She quickly realized that the only way she could truly speak against the social

injustices of African-Americans was in the professional political path: a lawyer. After practicing

law, she wanted to do more. With her gradual involvement in politics, with campaigning for the

presidential tickets of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson (Contemporary Black Biography

2010), and passionate oration on Democratic notions, she gained the radical ambition to run for

the Texas House of Representatives. Barbara Jordan is the most influential American because of

her radical oration for national unity, advocation of legislation that promoted equality, and

inspiring determination that would influence women to follow her footsteps for years.

Barbara Jordan wished to attend Harvard Law School, but that particular path of higher

education would not be appealed with her credentials and background. She, instead, attended

Boston University Law School, ready to leave segregated education. She was one woman out of

six in the law school’s freshman class. After graduation, she opened her own practice in her
parent’s house. Her attention had started to focus on politics- especially when it involved an

injustice. The 1954 ​Brown v. Board of Education ​decision had angered her because it had not

encouraged the integration of whites and African-American in school. Eight years later, Jordan

ran for office as a Senator for Texas. She had lost the election, but she didn’t give up there. She

ran again two years later, once again losing. In 1966, she rose victorious and was elected a Texas

Senate, being the first African-American state senator from Texas since 1833 (Batten 2011). Her

determination and persistence proved well-worth it in the end. However, this simply started her

career as a renowned, influential politician.

This woman was highly known throughout America and that success did not happen

overnight. She had gained a large audience and following through what she did best: public

speaking. She had procured a “national spotlight” with her speech in 1974, defending the

Constitution and speaking upon the subject of President Nixon’s impending impeachment after

the Watergate issue (Kammer 2016). She began her powerful movement discussing the

Constitution’s Preamble’s first three words, “We, the people”. Her words resonated to her

audience as she talked about how she had only recently felt included in those three words. She

encouraged her audience to think and reflect. She had realized that the impeachment of the

current President is a heavy action and a decision could not be made too lightly and took that into

consideration when discussing the matter. She believed that logic was the right path to follow in

that situation. She used her strong sense of emotions to her advantage and coaxed her audience to

follow what she believed in. She took leaps forward with peaceful movements. Mary Beth

Rogers, Jordan’s biographer, wrote “​She believed that Americans had to be united in a common

bond of respect for the Constitution, and that no one — not even the president of the United
States — was free to flaunt it” as witnessed her friend morphe into a patriot of America and the

Constitution (Kammer 2016). At the 1955 ​United We Stand America Conference, she

confidently states her beliefs that the foundation of American society is family. She calls her

audience to action to stop the federal government from spending their children’s future money.

She uses statistics and graphs to persuade her audience to join her in her efforts to preserve the

family structure in America. Her words shaped the way people thought. She appealed to people’s

hearts when she talked about how high government spending is affecting families- especially

children. She made her audience feel her emotions and conjure up their own, which gave her a

great influential aura to the public. She spoke in ways about the nation that would leave her

words echoing in American’s minds for years.

Years later, Jordan was elected into the House of Representatives as jump forward into

the U.S government. Many even wished to see her run as a vice-president, but she did not want

to be nominated. She had her plan and was ready to execute it. She began to propose several bills

that appealed to minority groups in America and pushed forward other pieces of legislation that

she approved of that aligned with her own ideas. This includes the ​Consumer Goods Pricing Act

of 1975, the Voting Rights Act of 1975, and the Equal Rights Amendment in 1977 (Cho 2008).

Her helping efforts in passing the Voting Rights Act expanded voting rights to non-English

speaking and minority groups (Hispanics, American Indian, Asian American, and Alaskan

Natives). She, also, pushed for the printing of bilingual ballots for voting elections. In advocating

for the legislation that benefited the discriminated groups, she was setting the country up for a

future she sought: unity in the nation. She actively supported legislation that encouraged

desegregation and equality and carefully looked over how it was implemented after passing. She
voted for the enforcement of desegregation in public schools and was one of the only few

African-American Congress members to question its effectiveness (​US House of

Representatives: History, Art & Archives) when segregation was still a big problem in America.

Jordan had influenced legislation that would benefit multiple groups in America that would

improve society’s sense of equality between ethnicities and races, setting up the nation for a

future that was more equal.

After serving for three terms, Jordan left the House of Representatives to teach at ​Lyndon

B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in Texas. She was afflicted with multiple sclerosis and

leukemia (Clines 1996). After some time, she was confined to a wheelchair. However, she did

not let that stop her from speaking her voice to grand audiences on politics. In 1976, Jordan

became the first African-American and first woman to speak a keynote address at a Democratic

National Convention (Cho 2008). She taught politics to students at school. Her terminal sickness

did not stop Jordan’s powerful voice from changing people’s hearts. Her story proved to be

inspiring as her legacy started an influx of colored women entering the political field with their

own goals. Stacey Abrams aimed to become America’s first elected African-American female

governor (Fouriezos 2018)- a journey similar to Jordan’s. Even after her passing, she had

influences minority women like herself to rise up and continue to break barriers to advance

America further into a united, equal nation. Carl Crum, an artist, created a portrait of the

politician with one of her amazing statements: “If the society today allows wrongs to go

unchallenged, the impression is created that those wrongs have the approval of the majority”.

This piece of art has gained enough recognition and popularity to be reproduced for public

consumption. People today are still very interested and impacted by her story and her words long
after she has passed. It didn’t stop there. The University of Texas at Austin made year-long plans

to create a statue of the famous Barbara Jordan on their campus. They felt that she embodied the

state of Texas’ history and leadership as well as the courageous spirit of women leaders and

educators (Wimmer 2004). Her story left a legacy on people everywhere and encourages young

women today, of any ethnicity or color, to contribute to their country to its highest extent.

This isn’t to say that Barbara Jordan was perfect. She was strong and dreamt of an equal

future, but her ignorance got in the way of other activists. She was stubborn about her beliefs and

that made her a target for criticism. On a proposal to restrict legal immigration, Jordan’s support

angered a coalition of advocates of expansive immigration. ​Cecelia Munoz, a lead immigration

lobbyist, and Karen ​Narasaki, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Legal

Consortium​, agree that the proposition was irresponsible and radical (Kammer 2016). Jordan had

tried to convince the coalition to end their protests and to support the limiting of immigration in

order to stand with “national interest”. The coalition had spent years to solely protect immigrants

and grant them a better future in a free country- yet Jordan had tried to persuade them to stop. In

short, Jordan could be easily argued to be uninfluential to America due to her actions that were

ignorant and hypocritical and contradicted what she was aiming for.

However, her stance on immigration may have contradicted one set of her beliefs, they

aligned with another set. Barbara believed wholeheartedly in the Constitution and acted upon

matters with peace. She strived to avoid destruction and aimed to keep America grounded. She

had undeniable “​faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to

sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the

Constitution” (Clines 1996). Immigration was still a conflicting matter in the law and she was
aware that escalated opposition would ultimately hurt America. She wanted to calm the coalition

for expansive immigration down and lessen the severity of their protest. Jordan was keeping the

nation’s best interest, as a whole, at heart. When the Watergate issue on President Nixon put the

nation on the edge of injury, she stayed optimistic and went out of her way to reassure her

audience. She visited the graduates of Howard University during the crisis and encouraged them

to voice their truth on the matter (Clines 1996). She took her own time to stabilize America.

Today, more people that identify as a minority are reaching out and pursuing higher

careers and increase the diversity in such fields. More women are getting involved in politics and

pursuing jobs in the STEM fields- all strong, empowered, and with goals. African-Americans

have come a long way from segregation and the Jim Crow laws and now all U.S citizens over 18

can vote with no limitations on race, ethnicity or color. It is because of Barbara Jordan’s

strength, determination, and powerful voice that pushed Americans to make this possible. She

was a pioneer for African-Americans and women to break the barriers that were set in place for a

long time. She influenced Americans that she held deep inside her heart.