Barbara Jordan

I frequently travel through the Austin airport and whenever I do, I always try to stop at least briefly at the statue of Barbara Jordan to honor her remarkable life. Jordan was the first African American woman in in the Texas Senate (1966-72) and the first African American woman from the South elected to the U.S. Congress (1972-1978).

She gained national fame in 1974 during the Watergate hearings when she eloquently defended the U.S. Constitution. “I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution,” she said.

Jordan retired from Congress after three terms and spent much of the rest of her life in Austin, teaching and speaking and working for civil rights while battling multiple sclerosis and ultimately leukemia, which led to her death in 1996.

I never got tired of hearing Jordan speak — she could read the phone book and make it sound like she was delivering the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. Check out highlights of her speech to the Democratic Convention in 1976 to get an idea of her voice and her eloquence.

Learn more about her amazing life, legacy and continuing influence from the Barbara Jordan Freedom Foundation.

#BlackHistoryMonth

February 6, 2026

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