THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Barbara Charline Jordan
February 21, 1936 – January 17, 1996
“It is a privilege to serve people, a privilege that must be earned, and once earned, there is an obligation to do something good with it.”
Attorney, Professor, Civil Rights Activist. First African American woman elected to the Texas Senate. U.S. House of Representatives (January 3, 1973-January 3, 1979). Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chairman in National Policy, 1982-1986; Chair, Commission on Immigration Reform. First African-American as well as the first woman to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention, 1976.


Photo 1. Barbara Jordan with Bella Abzug and Rosalynn Carter at the National Women’s Conference. Photo 2. From the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Anonymous Gift.
House Judiciary Committee, July 25, 1974
Read the Transcript
More About Barbara:
- Barbara Jordan Career Center
- Susanna Dickinson Museum Presents: Tough Texas Women Chapter One: Barbara Jordan
- The Legacy Project
- The History Channel
- Washington Straight Talk With Barbara Jordan – March 24, 1975
- Lyndon B. Johnson Library Oral History: Interview of Barbara Jordan conducted by Roland C. Hayes on March 28, 1984.
- Barbara Jordan Papers, 1975-2009, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
- The Barbara C. Jordan Archives in The Portal to Texas History. University of North Texas Libraries.
- President Clinton awards Barbara Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom 1994
- Barbara Jordan on C-SPAN
- Barbara Jordan on youtube
- Books on Barbara Jordan on Amazon
- Barbara Jordan on IMBD
- Wikipedia