Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Barbara Jordan US Congressperson

  • Gender: Female
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Feb 21, 1936
  • Died: Jan 17, 1996

Barbara Charline Jordan was an American politician and a leader of the Civil Rights movement. She was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, the first southern black female elected to the United States House of Representatives, and the first African-American woman to deliver the keynote address at a Democratic National Convention. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous other honors. On her death, she became the first African-American woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery.

Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.

Education remains the key to both economic and political empowerment.

For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.

What the people want is very simple - they want an America as good as its promise.

A government is invigorated when each of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation.

We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are a people in search of a national community.