A Houston native, Barbara Jordan was the first Black woman elected to the Texas state senate and first Black Texan in Congress. She helped manage a get-out-the-vote program that served Houston’s 40 African-American precincts in the 1960s.
Born in the city’s Fifth Ward, Jordan would also go on to be honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994.
When the Fifth Ward native couldn’t find a path to University of Texas, she became a proud Tiger in 1952.
Barbara Jordan left her mark at Texas Southern University as a national champion debater, defeating challengers from Brown and Yale universities and tying with a debater from Harvard.
When Jordan graduated magna cum laude, the Delta Sigma Theta pledge had her sights set on Washington.
She became not only the first African American woman elected to the Texas Senate, but also the first African American woman from Texas elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 2008, TSU paid homage to Jordan by naming the school of Public Affairs after her and another Congressional colleague, Mickey Leland.
Source : abc13.com
