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.