Pioneering Feminists of the Civil Rights Movement

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Early Life

Congresswoman Barbara C. Jordan (1936–1996), from Houston, Texas, was born into a poor, urban, segregated community. She and her two older sisters grew up in Houston’s Fifth Ward, a ghetto which still had hundreds of miles of unpaved streets, open sewers and a high unemployment rate. Noisy freight trains ran through the neighbourhood, night and day. The Jordans owned their simple frame house on an unpaved street, but noise and dust prevailed. Jordan’s father worked two jobs, her mother was a maid and the family remained part of Houston’s working poor. The Jordans were not a political family and the church’s association with black activism did not stand out in Jordan’s memories (3). She was one of the most revered African American politicians of the twentieth century, and was the first black person since Reconstruction to be elected to the Texas Senate in 1966, the first black woman to be elected to Congress from the South in 1972 and to give a keynote address at a major party political convention, in 1976, in America. Her televised speech supporting the impeachment of President Richard Nixon enthralled the nation. Commentators envisioned her in great roles: as US attorney general, as Supreme Court justice, even as president. Jordan remained a symbol of ethics in government but, on account of poor health, she unexpectedly retired from politics in 1978. She was mythologized in numerous juvenile biographies as a great African American, and when many African American politicians of the 1960s and 1970s emerged from the civil rights movement, Jordan did not. She never participated in civil disobedience or sit-ins, but when she entered political office as a liberal, she always supported organized labour. Jordan had strong ties to the conservative wing of the Democratic Party in Texas. Once in Congress, not only did Jordan castigate the Congressional Black Caucus, she also voted with the Black Caucus 90 per cent of the time (1).
 

Political Life

Jordan entered political life after the major victories of the civil rights movement had become law. Nevertheless, Jordan, based on her personal experience, believed that violence or direct confrontation rarely resulted in meaningful change. ‘My getting up in a public meeting denouncing police brutality won’t do what needs to be done’, she said, ‘We need new attitudes on the part of the chief to filter down to the men.’ For Jordan, protest led to intransigence. ‘What you have to do in public office is get on the inside and chip away at the way people think.’ In 1966, Jordan finally won a seat in the Texas legislature, becoming the first black woman to do so. She did not receive a warm welcome from her new colleagues initially, but she eventually won some of them over (1). In 1972, Jordan won election to the U.S. House of Representatives and she was thrust into the national spotlight during the Watergate scandal while serving as a member of the House Judiciary Committee (1). Jordan stood as a moral compass during this time of crisis, calling for the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon for his involvement in this illegal political enterprise. "I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution," she said in a nationally televised speech during the proceedings. In 1979, Jordan finished up her final term after announcing she would not seek re-election (1).

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There are several ways of interpreting Jordan’s political success. She was called the ‘one true heir of Lyndon Johnson’ for her ability to ‘enjoy the support of conservatives while advancing liberal legislation’ and Jordan, also, epitomised the American dream come true. However, Jordan did not advocate industrial education; she did not support the temporary abdication of political rights in favour of social progress, and she did not favour distinct black institutions like separate churches, schools, businesses (1). While she might have gone farther in her political career, it was later revealed that Jordan had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis around this time. Jordan soon turned her attention toward educating future generations of politicians and public officials, accepting a professorship at the University of Texas at Austin. She became the Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair of Public Policy in 1982 (1).

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Jordan’s speeches were not conciliatory; she spoke out against discrimination. Her ties with philanthropists were minimal. She strongly supported black voting rights and some of her best-known legislative triumphs revolved around extending and protecting the franchise. Jordan, based on her personal experience, believed that violence or direct confrontation rarely resulted in meaningful change. "My getting up in a public meeting denouncing police brutality won’t do what needs to be done", she said, "We need new attitudes on the part of the chief to filter down to the men." For Jordan, protest led to intransigence when she says "What you have to do in public office is get on the inside and chip away at the way people think (1)"

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When asked why she first became interested in civil rights, Jordan replied, "From the day that I could read and write. You don’t come into a society as a black and not become immediately interested in civil rights at the first moment of awareness." Jordan was under no illusions about the pertinence of the civil rights movement and its success to her life. She believed segregation was wrong and had crippled the black community (1).

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Jordan remained a loyal Democrat, and continued as a liberal, black, female politician. When she testified on behalf of the Texan, John Connally, during his bribery trial, many wondered why she would risk her liberal reputation to serve a man who had been a tough opponent of integration and who was a deeply conservative Republican (1). 

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Post-Politics and Activism

Jordan was born into a poor, urban, segregated community. She and her two older sisters grew up in Houston’s Fifth Ward, a ghetto which still had hundreds of miles of unpaved streets, open sewers and a high unemployment rate. Noisy freight trains ran through the neighbourhood, night and day. The Jordans owned their simple frame house on an unpaved street, but noise and dust prevailed. Jordan’s father worked two jobs, her mother was a maid and the family remained part of Houston’s working poor. The Jordans were not a political family and the church’s association
with black activism did not stand out in Jordan’s memories (1). Jordan became active in politics by campaigning for the Democratic presidential ticket of John F. Kennedy and fellow Texan Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1962, Jordan launched her first bid for public office, seeking a spot in the Texas legislature. It would take two more tries before she makes history (1).

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Jordan sought to improve the lives of her constituents by helping usher through the state's first law on minimum wage. She also worked to create the Texas Fair Employment Practices Commission. In 1972, her fellow lawmakers voted her in as president protempore of the state senate. Jordan became the first African American woman to hold this post (1).

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After she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, thereby, forcing her to retire from politics, Jordan soon turned her attention toward educating future generations of politicians and public officials. Consequently, she accepted a professorship at the University of Texas at Austin (1). Jordan, though, never fully stepped away from public life. She served as a special counsel on ethics for Texas Governor Ann Richards in 1991. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 to head up the Commission on Immigration Reform, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom that same year (1).
 

Death

On January 17, 1996, Jordan died of pneumonia in Austin, Texas. It was a complication of her battle with leukemia. Barbara Jordan shaped the political landscape with her dedication to the Constitution, her commitment to ethics and her impressive oratory skills.

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Bibliography

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