Barbara Jordan, the former congresswoman from Texas, was born and raised in Houston, Texas. After graduating from Texas Southern University, she attended law school at Boston University before returning to Houston. In 1966, she became the first African-American woman to serve in the Texas state senate, where she did until her election to the U.S. House Representatives in 1972. At the time, Jordan was the first African-American woman from a southern state to serve in Congress. She quickly made a name for herself on the national stage by securing a seat on the Judiciary Committee and is most famous for her impassioned defense of the Constitution during Richard Nixon’s impeachment.

In the 1973, Jordan was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She began walking with a cane and eventually progressed to a wheelchair. She left Congress in January 1979 and returned to Texas as a full professor at the University of Texas. Jordan continued to be involved in politics and among other things, she spoke at the 1988 and 1992 Democratic National Conventions. Many people found it shocking that:

Her 1992 keynote address was delivered from a wheelchair while she was in the midst of a lengthy battle with multiple sclerosis.

While her congressional biographies say, “She never married and carefully guarded her private life”, she supposedlyhad “a longtime companion”, Nancy Earl. Barbara Jordan died from complications of pneumonia and leukemia on January 17, 1996.

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Photo credit: Library of Congress

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