By Jacob King
On November 19, 1977, in Houston, Texas, U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-TX) approached the National Women’s Conference (NWC) podium. In front of a simple banner bearing the word “WOMAN,” Jordan delivered a powerful keynote speech that electrified a crowd of thousands of women who held differing viewpoints. With the onset of political polarization and realignment in the 1970s, unification in America seemed like a distant possibility. Yet, Jordan’s speech positioned the conference as an important democratic exercise. She urged women to work together to find common ground and compared the goals of the gathering to “stanzas from America the Beautiful.”i This promise of compromise and coalition around progressive ideals made Jordan’s keynote address an essential beginning for the conference and cemented her status as one of Houston’s hometown heroes.
Before speaking at the NWC, Jordan made a name for herself in the 1960s and 1970s as a barrier-breaking and effective politician. Barbara Charline Jordan was born in Houston’s Fifth Ward on February 21, 1936, and earned her bachelor’s degree at Texas Southern University in 1956. Following her graduation from Boston University’s law school, she returned to practice law in Houston. After unsuccessful bids for the Texas House of Representatives in 1962 and 1964, Jordan was elected to the Texas Senate in 1966, making her the first African American woman ever elected to that office and the first African American senator since the Reconstruction era. In 1972, she earned a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and used this position to advocate for civil rights on a national level.
During her years in Congress, Jordan’s commanding oratory and her unyielding belief in principles of justice reached a national audience. One of her most renowned speeches came when she served as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. Jordan delivered an address during the televised hearings that used the Constitution and the history of the nation to illustrate the limits of presidential power. She intoned, “My 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.” This speech, along with dozens of other addresses on the importance of equality for women and people of color, put Jordan on the national radar as an energetic speaker who could ignite audiences.
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Barbara Jordan was one of the most influential women in the 1970s, being the first African American women elected into the Texas Senate and eventually getting elected into Congress.
Barbara Jordan was known for her way with words in her speeches, particularly her statement on the Impeachment of President Nixon.
For more information and access to Barbara Jordans papers, visit the Barbara Jordan Archive at Texas Southern University’s website: https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/bja/
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