skip to main contentThe University of Texas at AustinThe Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Competition
Home > About Barbara Jordan > Important Dates

Barbara Jordan - Teacher, Patriot, Champion

Important Dates - Milestones in Barbara Jordan's Life

I felt for many years that somehow George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision, I have finally been included in the 'We the People'. On the Constitution during the impeachment hearings for president Richard Nixon, Jul 1974
    1936
  1. • Born Barbara Charline Jordan on February 21 in Houston, the youngest of three daughters born to Benjamin and Arlyne Jordan.

    2.  

  2. 1952
  3. • Graduates from Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston's historic Fifth Ward.

    4.  

  4. 1956
  5. • Graduates magna cum laude from Texas Southern University in Houston with a double major in political science and history.

    6.  

  6. 1959
  7. • Earns law degree from Boston University.
  8. • Passes bar exams in Massachusetts and Texas.
  9. • Teaches for a year at Tuskegee Institute

    10.  

  10. 1960
  11. • Returns to Houston and opens law firm in her parents' home
  12. • Becomes active in politics by assisting with registration drives for African-American voters for the 1960 presidential campaign.
  13. • Works for the campaign to earn John F Kennedy the Democratic Party's presidential nomination

    14.  

  14. 1962
  15. • Runs for public office for the first time, losing in her bid for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives

    16.  

  16. 1964
  17. • Loses her second campaign for the Texas legislature.

    18.  

  18. 1965
  19. • Named administrative assistant to the County Judge of Harris County, becoming the first African-American woman to hold that position.

    20.  

  20. 1966
  21. • Elected to the Texas State Senate, becoming the first African-American Texas senator since 1883
  22. • Gains the support of President Lyndon B Johnson.
  23. • Becomes first freshman senator named to the Texas Legislative Council.

    24.  

  24. 1972
  25. • As president pro-tempore of the Texas senate, serves as "Governor for a Day," becoming the first African-American woman to head any state in America
  26. • Elected to the U.S
  27. • House of Representatives.
  28. • Named to the House Judiciary Committee

    29.  

  29. 1974
  30. • Gains national recognition for televised speech during the impeachment hearings on President Richard Nixon
  31. • Tells the nation "My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total
  32. • I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."
  33. • Wins second term in Congress.

    34.  

  34. 1976
  35. • Wins third term in Congress.
  36. • Becomes first woman and first African-American to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention
  37. • Discussing the nation's fractured society, she asks the pivotal question, "Who then will speak for the common good?"

    38.  

  38. 1978
  39. • Retires from Congress to teach public policy at the University of Texas at Austin.

    40.  

  40. 1982
  41. • Awarded the University's Lyndon B
  42. • Johnson Chair of National Policy.

    43.  

  43. 1988
  44. • Seconds the nomination of fellow Texan Lloyd Bentsen as vice-presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention

    45.  

  45. 1992
  46. • Delivers keynote address at the Democratic National Convention
  47. • Tells the convention that "This country can ill-afford to continue to function using less than half of its human resources, brain power and kinetic energy."

    48.  

  48. 1994
  49. • Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Bill Clinton.

    50.  

  50. 1996
  51. • Dies in Austin, Texas at age 59.
  52. • Buried at the Texas State Cemetery at Austin, the first African-American so interred.

 

Images courtesy of the Barbara Jordan Archives, Robert J Terry Library, Texas Southern University