Barbara Jordan's Life Timeline

1936
  • February 21, 1936 - February 21, 1936 – Barbara Jordan is born

    Jordan born in Houston’s fifth ward to Benjamin and Arlyne Jordan on February 21, 1936. About two miles northeast of downtown is Houston’s Fifth Ward; first settled by Irish and...

  • The School Years of Barbara Jordan by Mary Beth Rogers

    1949 - Enters Phillis Wheatley High School

    Jordan attended the segregated Phyllis Wheatley High School, where a career day speech by Edith Sampson, a black lawyer, inspired her to become an attorney.

  • Close up Portrait of Edith Sampson

    1950 - Judge Edith Sampson speaks at Wheatley Career Day

    “I would come home with five As and a B,” Barbara Jordan told Molly Ivins of the Texas Observer, “and my father would say, “Why do you have a B?”...

  • DeltaSigmaTheta

    1953 - Pledges Delta Sigma Theta Sorority

    Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded on January 13, 1913 by 22 collegiate women at Howard University to promote academic excellence and provide assistance to those in need. Delta...

  • 1954 - Debate team ties Harvard

    Jordan was a member of the inaugural class at Texas Southern University, a black college hastily created by the Texas legislature to avoid having to integrate the University of Texas....

  • 1956 - Barbara Graduates from TSU magna cum laude

    Jordan graduated magna cum laude from Texas Southern University in 1956 and was accepted at Boston University’s law school.

  • 1960 - Barbara volunteers for Kennedy Johnson presidential campaign

    Barbara Jordan’s political turning point occurred when she worked on the John F. Kennedy presidential campaign in 1960. She eventually helped manage a highly organized get-out-the-vote program that served Houston’s...

  • 1964 - Voting Rights Act of 1964 passes Congress

    Signed into law on Aug. 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act banned literacy tests and other barriers to Black voting. It gave the federal government the authority to send federal...

  • Judge William Elliott

    1965 - Accepts position as assistant to Judge Bill Elliott, Harris County Courthouse

    The Honorable William Marshall Elliott was lauded for blazing new trails during his career, particularly during his tenure as county judge. His passion for Civil Rights was evident when he...

  • Barbara Jordan enters Senate chambers

    1967 - Barbara sworn in as State Senator, Austin, Texas

    Senator Barbara Jordan was elected to the Texas Senate in 1966 to represent the 11th District. Ms. Jordan is the first African-American woman Senator and the first African-American since 1883...

  • 1968 - Barbara wins 2nd Senate term

    In 1962 and 1964, Jordan ran for the Texas house of representatives but lost both times, so in 1966 she ran for the Texas senate when court-enforced redistricting created a...

  • March 28, 1972 - Barbara wins the Democratic primary for the U.S. Congressional race

    On March 28, 1972, Jordan’s peers elected her president pro tempore of the Texas senate, making her the first Black woman in America to preside over a legislative body. In...

  • June 10, 1972 - Barbara sworn in as “Governor for a Day”

    One of Jordan’s responsibilities as president pro tempore was to serve as acting governor when the governor and lieutenant governor were out of the state. When Jordan filled that largely...

  • November 11, 1972 - Barbara wins U.S. Congressional race

    Barbara won the U.S. Congressional race becoming the second African-American woman to be elected to Congress and the first from the deep South.

1996