Women's History Month - Barbara Jordan

In recognition of Women’s History Month, Smithtown Matters is proud to recognize the accomplishments of women.  It is fascinating to learn the wonderful and interesting ways women have made their mark on the world.  Throughout March, SmithtownMatters will give a brief history of women who made a difference.

Day 12 - Barbara Jordan “My faith in the Constituiton is whole, it is complete, it is total and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminuation, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.”

Testimony befor the Houste Judiciary Committee, July 25, 1974.

Barbara Jordan won a seat in the Texas Senate in 1966, becoming the first African American state senator since 1883 and the first black woman to serve in that body.

In 1972, she was elected to the United States House of Representatives, becoming the first black woman from a Southern state to serve in the House. She received extensive support from former President Lyndon Johnson, who helped her secure a position on the House Judiciary Committee. In 1974, she made an influential, televised speech before the House Judiciary Committee supporting the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.

Jordan was mentioned as a possible running mate to Jimmy Carter in 1976,^[1] and that year she became the first African-American woman to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.^[1] Her speech in New York that summer was ranked 5th in “Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th century” list and was considered by many historians to have been the best convention keynote speech in modern history. Despite not being a candidate Jordan received one delegate vote (0.03%) for president at the convention.

Jordan retired from politics in 1979 and became an adjunct professor teaching ethics at the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She again was a keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 1992.

In 1995, Jordan chaired a Congressional commission that advocated increased restriction of immigration, called for all U.S. residents to carry a national identity card and increased penalties on employers that violated U.S. immigration regulations.^[2][3] Then-President Clinton endorsed the Jordan Commission’s proposals.^[4] While she was Chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform she argued that “it is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest.” Her stance on immigration is cited by opponents of current US immigration policy who cite her willingness to penalize employers who violate US immigration regulations, to tighten border security, and to oppose amnesty or any other pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants^[5] and to broaden the grounds for the deportation of legal immigrants.^{[6] (Wikipedia)}