February 18th, 2021

Barbara was a Texas Congresswoman, public defender of the U.S. Constitution, and leading Democratic Party politician for two decades.

Jordan earned her law degree from Boston University and was one of two black women in her class. She would later pass the bar in both Texas and Massachusetts.

After two unsuccessful attempts running for the Texas House she became the first American American woman from a southern state in the U.S. Senate where she most notably helped to pass a state minimum wage law. She was later elected to the U.S. house making her the first black Texan in congress.

Later she would become known for her speech on the U.S. condition at a hearing for the impeachment of Richard Nixon:

I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.

Barbara delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention - yet another first for an African American woman. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in 1994.