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Barbara Jordan - Teacher, Patriot, Champion

Her Impact - How Others Saw Her

During her career in the Texas State Senate, the U.S. Congress, and later as a professor at the University of Texas, Barbara Jordan would become known as a lady of courage, conviction and compassion. Perhaps most proud of being called "teacher," Jordan taught by example, living by the principles by which she called others to live. Whether fighting for civil and social justice for all people, or battling illness late in her life, Jordan lived as a Teacher, Patriot and Champion.

"Throughout her life, Barbara Jordan was a voice for common ground, for the ties that bind. Hers were powerful, healing, uplifting words that challenged and inspired women and minorities, indeed all Americans, to reach for something higher and to believe in themselves and their own ability to change the world and make it a better place."
Senator Barbara Boxer

"Through the sheer force of the truth she spoke, the poetry of her words and the power of her voice, Barbara always stirred our national conscience. She did it as a legislator, a member of Congress, a teacher. Perhaps more than anything else in the last few years, for those of us who had the privilege of being around her, she did it in the incredible grace and good humor and dignity with which she bore her physical disabilities. No matter what, there was always dignity. When Barbara Jordan talked, people listened."

"So why was BJ so special? So admired? So loved? Because she spoke to the highest good in us all – she taught us to know our own hearts and minds, and to travel the high road…she believed that each of us can actually change the world, and her investment in us gave us the confidence that we really could."
Former Jordan student
DeAnn Friedholm

"A dynamic leader, powerful politician, riveting orator, and pioneer for all, her impact transcended age, sex, and ethnicity. Barbara Jordan left timeless lessons of tenacity and perseverance for those who will follow in her footsteps for generations to come."
From the Good Hope Baptist Church
Memorial Service in Honor of Barbara Jordan

"She realized she might be particularly charged to hold up the ethical litmus test for politicians in America, and she was not afraid to do so. She never cringed at the thought of high morals in government."
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee

"In a world that sways on the winds of trends and polls and prognostications, she was a constant, and she was as true as the North Star."
Former Texas Governor
Ann Richards

"The founders would have been lucky to have had her in that Constitutional Convention. If she had been present, it would have taken far less time for Barbara Jordan to be recognized as a whole person in the sight of the law, or for this country to fulfill its promise."
Journalist and Jordan friend
Bill Moyers

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