Barbara Jordan: A Life of Leadership and Perseverance

By Tabitha Pracale-Ocampo

Barbara Jordan is remembered as one of the most influential political leaders and orators in American history. Her path to public service, however, was shaped by the racial discrimination, colorism, and gender barriers she encountered throughout her life. Rather than allowing these obstacles to define her, Jordan relied on her intelligence, perseverance, and unwavering confidence to build a groundbreaking career in law and politics. Her life demonstrates how determination and a commitment to justice can transform adversity into lasting change.

On February 21, 1936, Barbara Charline Jordan was born to Benjamin Meredith and Arlyne Patten Jordan in Houston, Texas. She grew up in the Fifth Ward, a historically Black neighborhood where her father was a Baptist preacher and her mother was a teacher in the church. From a very young age Jordan was made aware of the way race and skin color would influence the opportunities available to her. In the African American community in the 1930s, light skin and delicate features were phenotypes that “divided the educated from the ignorant, the well-off from the poor, the attractive from the plain” [1]. Jordan had darker skin in comparison to other members in her family and community, and it did not go unnoticed. Almost immediately after she was born, her father commented on the darkness of her skin and continued to make it a focal point as she grew older. He wanted Barbara and his other daughters “to represent his success and God’s glory” so he would demand more from her to compensate for her blackness [1]. 

By the third grade, Jordan was larger than most of the kids in her class. As she got bigger so did her personality, and soon her height and bulk began to give authority to her presence [1]. As the years went on she developed a strong sense of self. An old friend of Jordan’s, Mary Justice York, described her as “very sure of herself” and recalled that “the kids who were the leaders were usually slim and pretty, with nice, long hair and pretty brown skin but Barbara—it wasn't that she tried to be the leader…we just recognized her” [1].  Jordan began to take her studies more seriously by the time she started at Phyllis Wheatley High School in 1949. This is where she really began to experience how her color, size, hair texture, and features determined and limited her choices. Some teachers, who were described as being “color struck,” favored light-skinned students and gave them honors, awards, and other opportunities that looked good for college and jobs. Jordan was not deterred by this unfair treatment, but instead went above and beyond to be recognized. She may not have fit beauty standards of that time, but she most definitely had pride, dignity, and intelligence. She used these attributes to become president of the Scholastic Honor Society in her senior year, star of the high school speaker’s circuit, and a member of the All-Girl’s Choir. She also joined other clubs whose faculty sponsors were influential within the school and the community. Her grit and ability to strategize a path to success made her stand out despite her perceived lack of physical beauty.

In 1952, Jordan graduated from Phillis Wheatley High School and began to attend Texas Southern University. It was a new all-black university created by the Texas legislature in March of 1947. Jordan was mostly interested in the law school at TSU, but due to lack of funding, the school was run poorly and very little thought was put into the appropriate curriculum. When Jordan saw a pre-law academic counselor to discuss her undergraduate coursework, she was told that she could take any course she wanted and that it didn’t matter. With that in mind, Jordan decided to spend the next couple years doing as she pleased. She decided to pledge Delta Sigma Theta during her first semester and also joined the debate team, which helped develop her voice and oratorical skills. This was a crucial part of who she became as a politician and lawyer, as she was able to learn more about conducting research and organizing information, as well as learning how to rebut. Jordan and her teammates excelled in debate, earning national recognition and even tying with Harvard in competition. Jordan’s travels with the debate team made her see the world differently, since she was no longer confined to Houston, Texas. She was starting to view herself as special and different, and “beginning to think that she could hold her own in the white world, as well as in her black world” [1]. Jordan was also beginning to think more about segregation and integration with the decision made in Brown v. Board of Education. She realized that it was going to take more than the U.S. Supreme Court to bring an end to segregation, since two years had already passed since Brown and no Texas schools had begun the process of racial integration. The weight of this realization prompted Jordan to consider law school more seriously.

As Jordan looked at her academic record, she decided it was best to stay at TSU for an additional year so she could take enough academic courses to qualify to leave Texas and go to a law school that was out of state. She felt she had to move away from the TSU environment, the Fifth Ward community, and most importantly, segregated Houston, if she wanted to make a difference in the world. She applied to Boston University Law School and entered in the fall of 1956. In her first-year class, only six people were women and only two, including Jordan, were Black women. Law school was the first time Jordan truly had her opinions challenged, and the rigorous, demanding environment was quite an adjustment. Jordan felt like she wasn’t prepared for what was expected of her as she said, “You had to think and read and understand and reason. I really cannot describe what that did to my insides and to my head. I thought: I’m being educated finally…I was doing 16 years of remedial work in thinking” [1]. She kept her struggles and anxieties to herself, even when she was just barely passing her classes. After her first year final exams at BU, Jordan earned a 78.4 average in the six classes she had taken, just 3.4 points above the minimum 75 she needed to stay in school. During her second year Jordan became more confident and self-assured, especially when one of her professors said he thought she had some real potential as a lawyer. In 1959 Jordan graduated from law school with an 80.86 average and an 84 out of 128 ranking in her class. She was proud and relieved that it was all over and that she had done it on her own.

Shortly after graduating from law school, Jordan was admitted to the Massachusetts and Texas bars and began to practice law in 1960. While beginning her legal career she worked as a volunteer for John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, which inspired her to enter politics. In 1962 and 1964, Jordan ran for the Texas House of Representatives, but lost both times. However, she found greater success in 1966 when she ran for the Texas Senate and won when court-enforced redistricting created a constituency that consisted largely of minority voters. With this win, she became the first Black state senator in Texas since Reconstruction and the first Black woman elected to the Texas State Legislature. She was not warmly welcomed by the thirty other White, male senators, but nevertheless she persisted [2]. She marked her time in the state senate by being an effective legislator who pushed through various bills that established the state’s first minimum wage laws, antidiscrimination clauses in business contracts, and the Texas Fair Employment Practices Commission. During her time in the Texas Legislature, she sponsored or cosponsored more than seventy bills. In 1972 Jordan was elected president pro tempore of the Texas senate, making her the first Black woman in American history to preside over a legislative body. One of her responsibilities in this role was to serve as acting governor when the governor and lieutenant governor were out of the state. When Jordan assumed the largely ceremonial role on June 10, 1972, she became the first Black person to serve as a chief executive in the nation [2]. 

From 1973 to 1979 Jordan served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District and making history as the first Black woman elected to Congress from the South. In 1973 Jordan was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a disease that causes the breakdown of the protective covering of the nerves, however she kept her battle with MS largely private, referring to it as a “mobility problem” [3]. Jordan rose to national prominence in 1974 during the Nixon impeachment hearings when she delivered a fifteen-minute televised speech before the House Judiciary Committee, defending constitutional principles and supporting the impeachment of President Nixon. She remained in Congress for several more years, using her voice to take part in landmark decisions such as U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and federal aid to public schools before retiring from politics in 1979 to become a professor at the University of Texas at Austin's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Even as her MS progressed and she began using a wheelchair by 1992, Jordan remained an influential public figure. Throughout her lifetime she was the recipient of thirty one honorary doctorates and various other national awards, showcasing how beloved and respected Jordan was. She was even presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1994, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a civilian. She was widely regarded as one of America's greatest orators, whose speeches inspired unity and strengthened the nation due to her unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and public service [4]. On January 17, 1996, Jordan passed away from pneumonia, a complication of the leukemia she had been diagnosed with in the 1980s. Even after her death, her remarkable career and enduring legacy have continued to inspire generations of Americans.

Barbara Jordan's achievements were the result of decades of perseverance, hard work, and an unshakable belief in her own abilities. From overcoming discrimination in her childhood to breaking racial and gender barriers in Texas politics and Congress, she consistently proved that leadership is defined by character rather than circumstance. Her powerful voice, commitment to equality, and legacy of public service continue to inspire future generations, ensuring that her impact on American politics and civil rights extends far beyond her lifetime.

Sources:

[1] Rogers, Mary Beth. “The School Years of Barbara Jordan.” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 23 (1999): 116–22. https://doi.org/10.2307/2999333.

[2] “Jordan, Barbara Charline.” History, Art, and Archives, accessed June 6, 2026, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/16031. 

[3] Gilliam, Dorothy. “Barbara Jordan Listed in Critical Condition After Accident in Pool.” Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1988. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-31-mn-10863-story.html. 

[4] “About Barbara Jordan.” KFF, accessed June 18, 2026, https://www.kff.org/about-barbara-jordan/.