Strong Rooted Volume 1: Issue 8-Barbara Jordan June 29, 2017 (Republished)
We must know where we come from in order to get to where we want to go. Never forget your roots.
“What the people want is very simple-they want an America as good as its promise.” Barbara Jordan
How many times have you either said or heard that America is only as good as her promise? As a Black female, I have heard it a lot! Barbara Jordan was a woman for women. Jordan grew up in the deep South, where she was a gifted student. After graduating from law school at Boston University, Jordan went back to Texas and opened a law firm.
Jordan went on to take public office as the first Black woman from the deep South to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representative, where she served from 1972-1978. After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Jordan decided not to run for reelection and instead became a professor at the University of Texas. Jordan gave a speech in 1992 at The Democratic National Convention. In 1994 Jordan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.
Barbara Jordan
On January 17, 1996, Barbara Jordan died from complications of Leukemia, and the world mourned. How is it that the great are silenced too soon? We are left with her book Barbara Jordan: A Self Portrait, her work, and most of all her words to us, the ones left here to continue her work and her legacy.
“There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals, and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto that decision.” Barbara Jordan
Reference: Convention Speeches in History: Rep. Barbara Jordan at the 1976 DNC. (2020, June 18). Retrieved January 05, 2021, from https://youtu.be/A7kotfNCDrQ
