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00:00:00Independent Lens
00:00:06The Texas flag waves outside the state capitol.
00:00:08A woman gives a graduation speech.
00:00:10What the people want is very simple.
00:00:14They want an America as good as its promise.
00:00:24When you were with Barbara, you could never quite shake the feeling that you were in the presence of somebody
00:00:33that was truly great.
00:00:34Photos show Barbara, the graduation speaker, with Presidents Johnson, Carter, and Ford.
00:00:39Barbara Jordan blazed the trail.
00:00:41She was the first black woman to serve in the Texas State Senate.
00:00:45The first black woman elected to Congress from the deep south.
00:00:49Barbara Jordan was a champion of our freedom, our constitution, and our laws.
00:00:54She could walk into all white male spaces and be respected.
00:00:59She reached into the heart of people whose hearts didn't want to be reached into.
00:01:03She was someone who was respected across party lines.
00:01:07When Barbara Jordan spoke, you just sat up and listened.
00:01:10We are trying to spark the consciousness in depth of everybody in this country, and we feel that we have
00:01:17the capacity to do it.
00:01:19Barbara Jordan's got the voice of God.
00:01:21When people are eroding the foundation of the country, don't be silent. Don't be quiet.
00:01:28I see the conviction and honesty that she had. Something that is absent from politics today.
00:01:35I think this mood that we're in now is cyclical.
00:01:40I think people are basically good and honest and that they care.
00:01:45And I think we will return to that posture.
00:01:48A film by Angela Lynn Tucker.
00:01:50She carried the fire. She carried the flame at a very critical time in American history.
00:01:57Today, I am an inquisitor. My faith in the Constitution is whole. It is complete. It is total.
00:02:05And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction
00:02:14of the Constitution.
00:02:17Colorful vertical bars cross each other to create a collage effect. A title appears, The Inquisitor.
00:02:26Photos show Barbara Jordan, a middle-aged black woman with short, wavy hair. Dan Rather, journalist.
00:02:31It would be difficult to understand and recognize from where Barbara Jordan came to what she became.
00:02:39It's a great story. It's a great American story.
00:02:43The screen dances with purple and yellow light. In archival footage, an old war plane falls through the sky.
00:02:49American black female soldiers march through a city street and salute.
00:02:52A mushroom cloud appears. Black actors and athletes are shown.
00:02:56You have the freedom to choose. The kind of future you want.
00:03:02You're denied the luxury of opting out. You can't opt out. You're already in.
00:03:07How can you opt out where you are? You are involved in life.
00:03:14You make the choice to leave.
00:03:17But if you choose to leave, you must be sure you have the capability, the capacity, the competence to do
00:03:25the job.
00:03:26Footage shows black men in denim overalls and hats. One of them carries a child.
00:03:30An older black woman in a hat smiles. Words appear.
00:03:33Houston, Texas. Fifth Ward. A young black woman and her three children walk down a sidewalk.
00:03:40Myself and my two sisters grew up in the Fifth Ward of Houston.
00:03:45We didn't know that we were in a deprived sector of the city.
00:03:51When everybody's poor, you don't ever think about poverty.
00:03:55We thought we'd just play in our gravel streets and eat the dust which the cars would stir up.
00:04:04We didn't worry about it too much.
00:04:06Footage shows black children playing outside.
00:04:08Voice of Rosemary McGowan, sister of Barbara Jordan.
00:04:11Barbara had a beautiful alto voice.
00:04:15We started singing together at the church to where we belong, at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church.
00:04:23And we even gave little mini recitals.
00:04:28Grandpa Patton showed favoritism to Barbara.
00:04:33When we would go sometimes back to evening church, she would stay there with him.
00:04:37Paper cutouts of Barbara and her grandfather appear.
00:04:41Grandpa Patton was a junk man.
00:04:45We would weigh that paper and weigh the rags, hitch up his mules, and go sell them.
00:04:51I say we because I was my grandpa Patton's partner in business.
00:04:56And we had more money than anybody we encountered.
00:05:00The cutouts ride on a mule-drawn carriage across a felt background.
00:05:04Next, a photograph shows Barbara with her graying bespectacled father.
00:05:07My father wanted excellence in his children.
00:05:12I was very proud of a report card.
00:05:15I had five A's and one B.
00:05:18My father, he looked at it, and then with a scowl,
00:05:24Why do you have this B?
00:05:28So, I was reverent toward him.
00:05:34He taught me to love to do the best that I could do.
00:05:41I didn't want to be run of the mill.
00:05:44I don't want to be just same old, same old.
00:05:47I want to be a little bit different and superior to tell the truth.
00:05:54A yearbook photo shows Barbara smiling.
00:05:57Words appear, Houston, Texas.
00:06:00From the archives, voice of Otis King.
00:06:02Barbara and I were students together in high school,
00:06:05and we went on to Texas Southern University together.
00:06:09We were partners as members of the Texas Southern University debate team
00:06:13under the direction of Dr. Thomas Freeman.
00:06:19Dr. Thomas Freeman was a well-known, renowned debate coach,
00:06:23and he taught Martin Luther King and some others.
00:06:27Under him, she learned about cadence and the importance of research,
00:06:32of enunciation, pacing.
00:06:33Rodney Ellis, former TSU debate team member.
00:06:36Everybody loved Dr. Freeman.
00:06:38All of us on the debate team did as much as we could to please him.
00:06:43He told me, a good speaker accomplishes three things.
00:06:47You make people laugh, you make people cry, and you make sense.
00:06:53And if you can only do one, make sense, and sit your boring self down.
00:06:57Voice of Thomas Freeman.
00:06:59Subtitles.
00:07:00Barbara came to me as a 16-year-old kid.
00:07:05Her voice was above those of many others.
00:07:11If Barbara spoke, you had to stop and listen.
00:07:13You had to stop and listen.
00:07:16You realized the depth of her thought.
00:07:18The depth of her thought.
00:07:21And Barbara was the only woman who traveled with the debate team.
00:07:24A photo shows Barbara smiling with other members of the debate team.
00:07:32A charter bus drives down a rural road.
00:07:35We were to drive into a city.
00:07:38The signs are up, white, colored.
00:07:45Thomas Freeman would refuse to go in the back door.
00:07:49He said, we'll get a sandwich and eat it by the side of the road before I take you through
00:07:55the back door.
00:07:57That certainly made an impression on me.
00:07:59Barbara and other debate team members sit at a long table studying.
00:08:03Voice of Otis King.
00:08:05The final event for Barbara and me was a debate against a team from Harvard University.
00:08:11Something akin to being in the World Series, I guess.
00:08:14Rodney Ellis.
00:08:15It was a first.
00:08:17A black university in the south.
00:08:21As deep in the heart of Dixie as you could get.
00:08:25With an all black debate team.
00:08:28Against Harvard University.
00:08:31The judges of the debate said it ended in a tie.
00:08:36People were shocked.
00:08:39Harvard is supposed to be so high and sharp and smart.
00:08:43That debating a little group like TSU to call it a tie, we must have won.
00:08:50Voice of Otis King from the archives.
00:08:52It just really told us personally that we could leave Texas Southern University and go on to do anything that
00:08:59we wanted to do.
00:09:03I was a sophomore at Texas Southern University.
00:09:06I can remember reading this big headline.
00:09:13Segregation ends.
00:09:15And I said hot dog.
00:09:18In my naivete, I thought tomorrow morning it was going to happen.
00:09:22Ruth Simmons.
00:09:23When I say it was a miracle for her to come out of Fifth Ward of that era, I mean
00:09:30you were not permitted to leave Fifth Ward.
00:09:34We're right in the shadow of downtown Houston.
00:09:38But you couldn't go downtown Houston.
00:09:41Cars drive on freeways leading to and from downtown.
00:09:44Archival footage shows black children in a small church.
00:09:47Before I went to law school, my world had been all black.
00:09:53A word appears, Boston.
00:09:55And then I arrived to attend law school at Boston University.
00:10:01In our entering class, there were about 300 people.
00:10:07Of the 300, there were three or four blacks.
00:10:11Footage shows white students walking across campus and sitting on steps outside a building.
00:10:15The voice of Alfre Woodard is Barbara Jordan.
00:10:17I knew that if I worked harder and studied longer, I'd survive it.
00:10:23But one thing I discovered by observing is that young white people love to stop whatever they're doing and have
00:10:31a cup of coffee.
00:10:32I would just go around and say, you need to take a break.
00:10:36Let's have a cup of coffee.
00:10:38That always worked.
00:10:40I formed many friendships over a cup of coffee.
00:10:43Archival footage shows black and white students chatting in a library.
00:10:47Then graduates line up.
00:10:49The first thing I did when I got my law degree was to take the red ribbon off and make
00:10:55sure that my name was on it.
00:10:59And then I cried because of what had gone into it.
00:11:05A photo shows a close view of the side of Barbara's face.
00:11:08She looks down with a hint of a smile on her lips.
00:11:11Words appear.
00:11:12Houston, Texas.
00:11:25The first law practice was in our dining room.
00:11:30She had her beginnings right at home.
00:11:32There was demand for legal assistance at the church where she was a member.
00:11:35And then the popularity did grow in the community.
00:11:37A sign on a door reads law offices.
00:11:39Another law office's sign hangs from a pole and displays three names, including Barbara's.
00:11:44A photo shows Barbara smiling and holding an open book.
00:11:47I had the notion that I'd like to do something to affect the way masses of people live.
00:11:55I became very interested in politics, working first in the Kennedy Johnson campaign.
00:12:03Let us move toward the unified goal of an America where every man will be free to live and be
00:12:10whatever he desires to be.
00:12:12She started speaking at some events and began to come to public attention.
00:12:17The Democrats around there said you ought to run for the Texas House of Representatives.
00:12:26Mary Beth Rogers.
00:12:27They saw Barbara as a person around whom the black community could coalesce.
00:12:35I ran twice for the Texas legislation, was defeated.
00:12:41Why could I not win?
00:12:44Max Sherman, former member of Texas Senate.
00:12:46It was a time when cities like Houston were gerrymandered in a different way because they stacked the deck.
00:12:53Cecile Richards.
00:12:54People had to run in these countywide districts.
00:12:56So that meant that in Houston, in Austin, Dallas, black voters never could get a majority of anything.
00:13:05The districts were discriminatory in how their lines were outlined in order to divide the black voting bloc.
00:13:12She got more votes not to be elected to the Texas House than I got to be elected to the
00:13:19Texas Senate.
00:13:21The disappointment was especially bitter because I was playing by the rules, but the rules were not fair.
00:13:28Then the Supreme Court established the principle of one person, one vote.
00:13:34Ashley Farmer, associate professor.
00:13:36That opened up the door for districts to be redrawn in ways where black people could represent black people.
00:13:42The Texas legislature was required to reapportion itself.
00:13:48So in 1966, I ran again.
00:13:51This time in one of those newly created state senatorial districts.
00:13:57I won and my political career got started.
00:14:03Jasmine Crockett, U.S. Representative.
00:14:05It speaks to why it is important that we have people who accurately interpret these constitutional amendments.
00:14:14This is how we ended up with seats where black folk could have a voice.
00:14:20Sanfronia Thompson.
00:14:21At that particular time, black people only could be on the Capitol grounds if you were cutting the grass, polishing
00:14:29the statues, or cleaning the building.
00:14:32A paper cutout of Barbara wears a space suit.
00:14:34On her first day, she was like an unknown person from outer space coming into the Texas Senate.
00:14:39They didn't even have a restroom that she could use.
00:14:42And they had to build a bathroom specifically for her to use.
00:14:47The good thing about that is they let her design it.
00:14:50Photos show a crowd of people gathered outside.
00:14:54Everybody's going down to see what she looks like.
00:14:57To see someone come back to the Senate after Reconstruction, an African American and a woman, it made black people
00:15:07feel like they had a say and helped to shape their government.
00:15:12Carla Braley, associate professor.
00:15:14Barbara Jordan carried with her, at all times, the Constitution and a photo of her grandfather.
00:15:26Voice of Alfre Woodard as Barbara Jordan.
00:15:29My grandpa was always saying that you couldn't trust the world out there, so you had to figure things out
00:15:35for yourself.
00:15:36But you had to love humanity, even if you couldn't trust it.
00:15:40Photos show the mostly white male members of the 1965 Texas State Senate.
00:15:47Barbara Jordan came along in an era in which you had a very conservative group of men who ran the
00:15:56Texas Senate.
00:15:57Mary Beth Rogers.
00:15:58Many of the older white men who were in that had probably never had any kind of relationship with a
00:16:05black woman unless she was a maid in his house.
00:16:09I was Speaker of the House, and I went over to the Senate to see the Senate's warrant in.
00:16:17There were a lot of older men that had reservations about what kind of Senator Barbara was going to be.
00:16:23Ben Barnes, former Lieutenant Governor of Texas, 1969 to 1973.
00:16:28The Senate would go on hunts.
00:16:31There were some reservations at first on part of the senators.
00:16:34Well, are we going to ask Barbara? We're all men.
00:16:36No one really hunted.
00:16:38They played cards and drank whiskey and sang songs.
00:16:42Could Barbara fit in?
00:16:44We asked Barbara to go, and not only did she fit in, she brought her guitar.
00:16:49A photo shows Barbara playing guitar.
00:16:51She was one of the first ones down around the fire and had a glass of scotch in her hand,
00:16:55and she was one of the last ones to go to bed.
00:16:58Barbara Jordan was really a good old boy, and everybody realized that.
00:17:03A photo shows Barbara aiming a rifle at the sky.
00:17:05Jasmine Crockett.
00:17:06She walked in with a certain level of credentials, and she was able to demand a level of respect
00:17:13that they probably didn't even know that they would be given to a Black woman.
00:17:19Once I cut through the maleness of the Texas State Senate and their view that I was going to be
00:17:28a disruptive force rather than a helping force, I enjoyed being in the Senate.
00:17:35Rodney Ellis, former member of Texas Senate.
00:17:37The Texas Senate, you have to persuade people.
00:17:40So even if you shoot down that argument and debate, you got to do it in such a way you
00:17:45don't anger them, because you may need to vote ten minutes later.
00:17:50Barbara learned a whole lot about political power.
00:17:54Barbara did some things that some of her liberal friends would have been disappointed if they'd have known that she
00:18:01did that.
00:18:02We didn't agree politically on practically anything, but I got along with them and formed genuine friendships.
00:18:11Max Sherman.
00:18:12We sat by each other over and over.
00:18:15We began to talk about ourselves, tell our history, and became close, close friends, almost brother and sister.
00:18:22A photo shows Max, former member of Texas Senate, as a young man sitting next to Barbara.
00:18:27At the time, there was a really vibrant civil rights and Black power movement going on.
00:18:33Flickering lights fade to footage from a raisin in the sun.
00:18:35I tell you, I got to change my life because I'm choking to death.
00:18:39Civil rights protesters march.
00:18:45Huey Newton.
00:18:46The party is one with the people, because we struggle with all the oppressed people.
00:18:50We struggle against the international bourgeoisie.
00:18:53Fannie Lou Hamer.
00:18:54...the 31st of August to try to register.
00:18:58They wasn't ready for that in Mississippi.
00:19:01They shot in the house 15 times, thinking that I was there.
00:19:05Jimi Hendrix plays electric guitar at Woodstock.
00:19:14You, my friends, can help somehow tear down these walls that divides people into groups and separates them.
00:19:24You, the people of this country, I ask you, what about the basic and fundamental problem of human understanding, of
00:19:32a human care for human beings?
00:19:34A black woman slides a ballot into a ballot box.
00:19:40Sanfronia Thompson, Texas State Representative, 1973 to present.
00:19:44There was an upswing of women being energized politically.
00:19:51Most of the more progressive issues that Barbara Jordan wanted to pass were not going to pass the Texas Senate.
00:19:59Barbara gives a speech.
00:20:01It's not an anti-male chauvinistic movement.
00:20:04And I know, men, that there are some of you who remain reluctant to embrace the cause of the equality
00:20:12of women.
00:20:13We want to help you.
00:20:15You need help.
00:20:16Barbara cracks a wide smile.
00:20:25In Texas, it was not until 73 that a woman was able to have a credit card in her name
00:20:32about property.
00:20:34Protesters hold signs in support of the ERA.
00:20:37Barbara wanted the Equal Rights Constitutional Amendment for women to pass and wanted Texas to be one of the early
00:20:43states to do it.
00:20:46She was able to reach out to people on all sides and pull them together.
00:20:52She got to be the author of the Equal Rights Constitutional Amendment for women.
00:20:58One of the first legislative branches of any state that passed in the United States.
00:21:03Magazine covers appear. Jet's cover reads long hair versus short hair.
00:21:07The cover of Ebony shows a black father and mother with their two children.
00:21:11Ebony Magazine shows a father and mother with their baby.
00:21:14Keep in mind that in the days when she grew up, the goal for girls at the time was to
00:21:22find a marriage as soon as possible
00:21:24and to be rescued from your situation as a woman.
00:21:29Ruth Simmons.
00:21:30And that meant that, you know, boys had to like you.
00:21:34And if they didn't, well, gee, I mean, what was wrong with you and what was going to happen to
00:21:39you?
00:21:39Photos show Barbara on a speedboat with friends and swimming in the ocean.
00:21:43Voice of Alfre Woodard is Barbara Jordan.
00:21:48One thing I learned early on was that you can't work all the time.
00:21:53You need people around you who don't care about titles or status.
00:21:59One night after wrapping up a long day, some friends invited me out.
00:22:05That's where I met Nancy Earl.
00:22:07She walked at the university, and from the moment we started talking, it felt easy.
00:22:15We played music, sang together, and just enjoyed the night.
00:22:21Nancy had this way of making people feel at ease.
00:22:26I remember thinking, this is something I'd love to do again.
00:22:30Lisa Moore, professor, University of Texas at Austin.
00:22:34She enjoyed being with Nancy Earl.
00:22:36She finally felt she could relax and be herself.
00:22:39In archival footage, a city bus drives through downtown Austin.
00:22:46SCR number 14.
00:22:49All those in favor of adoption of the resolution, vote aye.
00:22:53Those opposed, vote no.
00:22:55Aye is happy.
00:22:56Resolution is stopped.
00:22:58Barbara was an independent person who had an agenda to represent her district.
00:23:03Our urban affairs committee devoted specifically and entirely to the solutions of problems of the cities.
00:23:12I'm frankly very disappointed in the work of the Constitutional Commission.
00:23:17You don't have any daycare centers?
00:23:19No, they don't.
00:23:20I wish they had one.
00:23:21But I go to school.
00:23:22I'm taking high school now, two nights of the week.
00:23:25Tonight's 30 weeks.
00:23:26So if you can find someone who can take care of the two youngest children.
00:23:30I would be able to work.
00:23:31You would be able to work.
00:23:32Yes ma'am.
00:23:35And she had an agenda way beyond the borders of Texas.
00:23:39She wanted to go to Washington.
00:23:41Frank Pratka, Jordan campaign organizer.
00:23:44A group of us found the empty building and we set up the headquarters.
00:23:49Sylvia Garcia, U.S. Representative, Democrat, Texas.
00:23:52We literally would stuff envelopes and lick stamps.
00:23:56We spent a lot of time in the headquarters helping in whatever way we could to boost the campaign for
00:24:01her.
00:24:02Newspaper headlines read, House seat eyed by Barbara Jordan.
00:24:05And Barbara Jordan takes another giant step.
00:24:07A bespectacled black man stands at a podium.
00:24:11Her main opponent in the Democratic primary was Curtis Graves.
00:24:16You hear candidates now talking about law and order.
00:24:18They don't mean the kind of law and order that we mean.
00:24:21We mean law that isn't necessarily looking for order as an end result.
00:24:26But rather law which is looking for justice as an end result.
00:24:33I represent the real Democrats of Texas who have always supported the traditional philosophy of liberalism.
00:24:40Graves' picture appears in a political ad.
00:24:43Curtis Graves had been a bomb-throwing, very progressive, outspoken member of the House.
00:24:49And so you had a lot of angst out there in the black community.
00:24:53Voice of Curtis Graves.
00:24:54I served in the Texas legislature at the same time that Barbara Jordan did.
00:24:59I guess she chose not to be affiliated with the causes that I was involved in
00:25:04because they were a little too liberal for her politics.
00:25:06Carla Braley.
00:25:07Barbara Jordan looked really good in terms of this being her time.
00:25:12He had also still put in the time.
00:25:15A photo shows Graves shouting atop a press table.
00:25:17He was a firebrand who liked to be confrontational.
00:25:21He tried to make it look like Barbara Jordan was kowtowing to the old white guys.
00:25:28And, well, he started circulating rumors that Barbara was gay.
00:25:34Curtis Graves is a light, light complexion of African American guy running against a dog complexion woman.
00:25:41Highlighted text from an article.
00:25:43Graves calls Miss Jordan the Aunt Jemima of Texas politics.
00:25:48The press seldom presented me in a favorable light.
00:25:52Text from various articles.
00:25:53She is every black maid, black cook, black mammy.
00:25:56She wasn't attractive.
00:25:57Direct from Gone with the Wind.
00:25:58She was homely, heavy lame, dark black.
00:26:02Voice of Alfre Woodard as Barbara Jordan.
00:26:04The world had decided that we were all negro.
00:26:09But some of us were more negro than others.
00:26:13You went further.
00:26:15You got the awards if you were not black black with kinky hair.
00:26:21Black was bad.
00:26:23You didn't want to be black.
00:26:25Black school children eat in a cafeteria.
00:26:26A photograph shows Barbara smiling standing between a black man and woman.
00:26:30A blue spotlight highlights a photo of Barbara in the Senate.
00:26:36Everything is on the table when you're out there running for public office.
00:26:41It is a requirement of the person who puts themselves out there.
00:26:45You're going to feel that kind of pain that comes from that kind of scrutiny.
00:26:51And if you don't want that kind of scrutiny, don't seek the office.
00:27:00By that time, Barbara Jordan was able to have the relationships with both the black community and the union community.
00:27:08Which crossed racial lines.
00:27:11I was trying to get the hard-nosed, crusty business establishment in the city of Houston to come to the
00:27:21fundraising rally for me and endorse my candidacy for Congress.
00:27:26Well, they said we might come. We, I guess.
00:27:31But then the word got out.
00:27:33Lyndon Johnson is coming.
00:27:35Ben Barnes.
00:27:36Lyndon Johnson came to the first reception that we had at the Rice Hotel in Houston when Barbara Jordan was
00:27:43going to run for Congress.
00:27:45And, of course, that guaranteed a success of the rally.
00:27:48And anybody who thought they were somebody came to the Rice Hotel.
00:27:56And, of course, she adored him in that.
00:28:00Lyndon Johnson held my hand in both of his, as only he could do, and said,
00:28:05If ever you need anything from me, just call.
00:28:11He looked at her as the future of the New South.
00:28:15We gave you Lyndon Johnson, and now we're giving you Barbara Jordan.
00:28:19Barbara laughs.
00:28:20Johnson emphatically applauds.
00:28:24He saw and heard the potential.
00:28:28And that was a friendship that lasted until Johnson died.
00:28:32A photo shows Barbara laughing with her arms around a smiling Lyndon Johnson.
00:28:36That picture was on the front page of the newspapers throughout Texas.
00:28:41The photo appears in various newspapers.
00:28:46Curtis Graves just didn't have what Barbara Jordan had.
00:28:50Graves.
00:28:50Once she was elected, she moved away from the liberal wing and into the Lyndon Johnson wing of the party
00:28:58by doing their bidding in many cases.
00:29:02And that may have been a wise decision.
00:29:05He eventually got her elected to the Congress of the United States.
00:29:09But I promised you that you would have a clear, sound, effective, clarion voice on the floor of the United
00:29:18States House of Representatives if you elected me, and I guarantee you, you have that.
00:29:22On election night, 1972, Richard Nixon gives a televised speech.
00:29:27I would only hope that in these next four years, we can so conduct ourselves in this country, that years
00:29:36from now, people will look back to the generation of the 1970s and they will say, God bless America.
00:29:47In a parade, Nixon makes V for victory signs at his supporters.
00:29:51A plane coming in for a landing passes the Jefferson Memorial.
00:29:54Words appear.
00:29:56Washington, D.C.
00:29:57Then a cutout plane flies in a cloudy sky.
00:30:00Nancy came to Washington with Barbara.
00:30:03The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument rise into the sky.
00:30:06When you look back, yes, it's easy to see that they were a couple.
00:30:10They shared a house together.
00:30:12They shared a life together.
00:30:14And publicly, that was all there was to it.
00:30:16A flower blooms above cutouts of Barbara and Nancy.
00:30:22Nancy cared for Barbara Jordan, respected her, gave her her space.
00:30:27Nancy understood that Barbara Jordan's love in life was politics.
00:30:32A photo shows Nancy and Barbara in formal wear, walking a few feet away from each other.
00:30:37The civil rights movement is still alive and well.
00:30:41Its methodology has perhaps changed.
00:30:45The political arena, that's where the black radicals have gone.
00:30:48Ashley Farmer, associate professor, University of Texas at Austin.
00:30:52The Congressional Black Caucus started in 1971.
00:30:57Black people are in that space in a way that we never have been before.
00:31:02The difference in state and federal, there's a lot more eyes on you.
00:31:07Jasmine Crockett.
00:31:09And cameras were open.
00:31:10Barbara appears on the cover of Jet Magazine, along with Andrew Young and Yvonne Burke.
00:31:15U.S. Congress gets three new black lawmakers.
00:31:17She gives a televised interview.
00:31:19You've made history in the Texas Senate and now being the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress
00:31:25from the South.
00:31:26How do you feel about all this?
00:31:27Well, I'm often asked whether I feel historical, and I really don't.
00:31:34Elizabeth Holtzman, former U.S. Representative, 1973 to 1981.
00:31:39Barbara Jordan wanted to be on the House Judiciary Committee.
00:31:43There were very few women.
00:31:46But there we were together.
00:31:49It was a hard slog.
00:31:51You get there, and all of a sudden you're voting on agricultural appropriations.
00:31:56Well, I'm from Brooklyn.
00:31:57I don't know too much about farming.
00:32:00But, of course, what I didn't know was that when impeachments come up, the House Judiciary Committee plays the key
00:32:07role.
00:32:09June 17, 1972.
00:32:11The Watergate Complex.
00:32:12The Democratic National Committee is trying to solve a spy mystery.
00:32:15Five intruders were captured by police inside the offices of the committee in Washington.
00:32:19The five men carried cameras and apparently had planted electronic bugs.
00:32:23Mr. Nixon says emphatically that the White House is in no way involved in the burglary and bugging of the
00:32:29Democratic headquarters.
00:32:31You had this slow drip of information coming out that it was possible that the President of the United States
00:32:38was involved in bribing burglars to keep quiet about a break-in that affected the election.
00:32:44And, of course, Nixon said this was completely untrue.
00:32:47I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their Presidents are crook.
00:32:53Well, I'm not a crook.
00:32:54There were rumblings about impeaching the President, but no serious rumblings.
00:33:00I had always had the highest respect possible for the Presidency, and I could not imagine that I would be
00:33:09engaged in a process which could lead to the end of the Presidency.
00:33:14It was only last week that the Senate Watergate Committee learned of the existence of tape recordings of President Nixon's
00:33:20conversation.
00:33:21The tapes would tell the truth, and Nixon didn't want the tapes to come out.
00:33:25This administration has, I think, gone further in terms of waiving executive privilege than any administration in my memory.
00:33:33On the question of impeachment of the President, a matter now being examined by the House Judiciary Committee is whether
00:33:39he illegally...
00:33:39I not only did a lot of homework and study, I lived the impeachment matter.
00:33:46It was a 24-hour-a-day engagement.
00:33:51Could I ask any of you to say what your own definition of impeachable offense is?
00:33:56I have no difficulty saying that. I do not feel that an impeachable offense has to be an indictable offense.
00:34:03I do not think it has to be one which shows criminality.
00:34:07You wouldn't say, I'm not a crook, if you weren't a crook. That was enough for the rest of us.
00:34:12But she needed the facts.
00:34:15The great disservice to the country would be to react emotionally.
00:34:21Some of my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee said, he's guilty, I'm ready to vote.
00:34:26I said, but I am not. And I will not be ready until I have satisfied my own mind that
00:34:34reason, reason tells me that this process has to be worked now.
00:34:46The Nixon tapes were finally released by the Supreme Court.
00:34:50One of the tapes showed that Nixon had ordered the cover-up from the beginning.
00:34:57Barbara gives an interview.
00:34:59The committee will view to determine why the President of the United States felt it necessary to spy on citizens
00:35:06of this country, tampering with the evidence. It's a long list.
00:35:10Elizabeth Holtzman.
00:35:12I felt as though there was no bottom to the misconduct, abuses of power of Nixon and of his team.
00:35:21There was so much criminal. Let's be honest about it. Criminal stuff going on.
00:35:30The U.S. Capitol building appears. Dr. Brenda Eatman Agahoa.
00:35:34It was three evenings that the 38 members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee each had 15 minutes to
00:35:40say something about the matter of impeachment.
00:35:42Ron Kirk.
00:35:431970s. We didn't have social media. We didn't have all these distractions. We actually all watched the news.
00:35:51Everybody was glued to what was happening in these proceedings.
00:35:55Max Sherman.
00:35:56Barbara was always a little bit of perfectionist. She told me that on the way down to the hearing, she
00:36:02made some revisions to the text.
00:36:05If I can get into the vernacular, I had to have my stuff together. I felt that I was participating
00:36:12in a very important historical event.
00:36:15Barbara's notes appear on typed documents.
00:36:19What was at stake?
00:36:20Dan Rather.
00:36:22We were talking about a widespread criminal conspiracy led by the President of the United States.
00:36:29And the question was, what are we, the people, going to do about it?
00:36:33Judiciary Committee. Impeachment opening statement, July 1974.
00:36:36Barbara Jordan's address sharply focused on the question.
00:36:39I recognize the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Jordan, for the purpose of general debate, not to exceed a period of
00:36:5015 minutes.
00:36:51Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:36:52Mr. Jordan.
00:36:53Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States.
00:37:01We, the people. It's a very eloquent beginning.
00:37:05But when that document was completed on the 17th of September in 1787, I was not included in that we,
00:37:13the people.
00:37:14I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake.
00:37:22But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in we, the people.
00:37:32Today, I am an inquisitor.
00:37:36And hyperbole would not be fictional and would not overstate the solemnness that I feel right now.
00:37:44My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total.
00:37:49And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction
00:37:58of the Constitution.
00:38:01Jewel Jackson McCabe.
00:38:02When I watched this black woman so articulate, so engaging, she becomes me.
00:38:12She becomes my mother and grandmother and every woman that I know and every African American woman that was privileged
00:38:19to be born African American in this country.
00:38:22We know the nature of impeachment. We've been talking about it a while now.
00:38:28It is chiefly designed for the president and his high ministers to somehow be called into account.
00:38:36It is designed to bridle the executive if he engages in excesses.
00:38:41It is designed as a method of national inquest into the conduct of public men.
00:38:47Framers confided in the Congress the power if need be to remove the president in order to strike a delicate
00:38:55balance between a president swollen with power and grown tyrannical and preservation of the independence of the executive.
00:39:04But impeachment must proceed within the confines of the constitutional term high crime and misdemeanors.
00:39:14If the impeachment provision in the Constitution of the United States will not reach the offenses charged here, then perhaps
00:39:22that 18th century Constitution should be abandoned to a 20th century paper shredder.
00:39:29Barbara Jordan built a case that we're not doing this. The framers envisioned this, and they didn't envision it for
00:39:37something trivial. They envisioned it for something serious.
00:39:41She essentially walked America through the Constitution, the amendments, the debate over the impeachment articles.
00:39:50With Nixon, it was all about whether he had violated the Constitution. If you're following the Constitution, then you're doing
00:39:57the right thing and you have parameters.
00:40:00It is reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision. I yield
00:40:11back the balance of my time, sir.
00:40:15I recognize the...
00:40:17Barbara Jordan was looking the camera right straight in the eye, looked down the throat of the camera, and said,
00:40:23America, this is what's on the table.
00:40:27This is what we have to decide. See it clearly. Have no confusion about it. This, my friends, is what
00:40:35it's about. No question. It was an emotional time, because so much was at stake.
00:40:41Impeachment vote, Article 2.
00:40:42Mr. Seiberling. Aye.
00:40:44Mr. Danielson. Aye.
00:40:46Mr. Dreinen. Aye.
00:40:48Ms. Holtzman. Aye.
00:40:49Mr. Rangel. Aye.
00:40:53Ms. Jordan. Aye.
00:40:54Behind the committee hearing room, several of us cried. Absolutely shed tears. For Richard Nixon? No. But that the country
00:41:08had come to this.
00:41:10The House Judiciary Committee today recommended formally the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
00:41:18Republican leaders, seeing that the midterm elections were about to come up, knew that if Nixon were going to fight
00:41:24this, that no Republicans would have been elected.
00:41:29Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
00:41:33Archival footage shows people walking down a bustling city sidewalk and crossing a busy street. Fountains spray water on the
00:41:39other side of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
00:41:44When she left the Capitol that night, there were people waiting outside as she got in her car to leave.
00:41:50She couldn't believe it. And then in the days following that, the outpouring.
00:41:55I'd say I got maybe a dozen letters from people who didn't agree with me. But you contrast that to
00:42:02the hundreds upon hundreds who said, that did it for me.
00:42:06Ruth Simmons.
00:42:07It's no small thing to be socialized in the state of Texas as a black woman, being pushed down the
00:42:16way she was. How do you come through that and then present yourself to the nation in such a forceful
00:42:25way?
00:42:26On The Dick Cavett Show, 1979.
00:42:27Did any of your black friends say to you, how could you get up there in front of the country
00:42:31and say you had faith in the Constitution and the law of this country when you are a descendant of
00:42:36slaves, undoubtedly?
00:42:38Um, and look what the country's done to us, et cetera, et cetera.
00:42:41Well, certainly some a few will say, how can you say that? And you're just, you're lying to people. You
00:42:48can't really believe that you said it because it sounds pretty to feel that way.
00:42:52Well, Dick, if, and I do believe in the basic fundamental ideas on which this country was founded.
00:43:02What if I checked out, checked out on the country, checked out on the Constitution, decided it really doesn't have
00:43:09anything to do with the inclusion of me now or ever.
00:43:14Then what do I do? Pack up my bags and go to sea?
00:43:18Sanfronia Thompson, Texas State Representative.
00:43:20I think for the first time, she may not have been looked upon as a black person, but as an
00:43:27American.
00:43:29Barbara Jordan became a media person, a household name. Her speaking calendar booked solid a year in advance.
00:43:36Barbara gives news interviews.
00:43:39The fact that she's the first this or the first that isn't what's kept her at the top.
00:43:42It's a keen intelligence, a voice, a presence.
00:43:46Barbara sits on a couch with Barbara Walters.
00:43:48Let's talk about the mystery of Barbara Jordan. Is marriage anything that comes into your thinking?
00:43:54Oh, from time to time, comes into my thinking.
00:43:57What do you do when it does?
00:43:59I look around and see who's available, and I usually come up with a blank, and so then I don't
00:44:06get married.
00:44:07Would you mind if it didn't happen?
00:44:10I don't think I'd take to my bed over it. As a matter of fact, I think I could survive
00:44:18it.
00:44:20Jewel Jackson McCabe.
00:44:22The press was pretty gentle about people's sexuality. If they didn't come out of the closet, I don't remember her
00:44:31discussing it.
00:44:36If Barbara Jordan was in office and she had even indicated that she was a gay person and tried to
00:44:41come out, she would have been ostracized, first of all, by the black community.
00:44:46She would have been driven out of office. She would have lost all her credibility, all her fame. It just
00:44:53would have gone down the drain.
00:44:56You compound homophobia and racism. It is a toxic combination.
00:45:02Lisa Moore, professor, University of Texas at Austin.
00:45:05She had really good reasons for keeping her relationship quiet. At the same time, her friends always said, you know,
00:45:12she never denied it in personal relationships.
00:45:15It wasn't a case of internalized homophobia that she pretended to the people that she trusted that she wasn't gay.
00:45:23But it wasn't information that the public was ready to hear from someone who was going to represent them.
00:45:30Footage shows Barbara speaking at the Texas Southern University graduation.
00:45:41Shortly after the Watergate hearings, she noticed some changes in her vision and some weakness in her muscles.
00:45:47So she went in for some tests. The initial tests came back as multiple sclerosis.
00:45:55The type of MS that Barbara Jordan had, you'd have an attack and then remission. And each attack would leave
00:46:04a portion of your body further damaged.
00:46:08But she kept it secret.
00:46:10Voice of Rosemary McGowan, sister of Barbara Jordan.
00:46:12The family seemed to have been the last to know specifically what the illness was.
00:46:19She did not discuss it with us. We noticed a deterioration and knew that she was doing all that was
00:46:27possible to improve it.
00:46:29A photo shows Barbara using a cane.
00:46:31So little was done about the disease at the time or potential cures.
00:46:37There was an uncertainty within her about her own life and well-being.
00:46:44But like so many things in Barbara's life, she put it aside because she was going to go do what
00:46:49she was going to go do.
00:46:51Right now, I'm just very pleased that I've won re-election to represent the 18th Congressional District of Congress.
00:46:57A political office isn't a destination. It's a tool.
00:47:02Anise Parker, former mayor of Houston, 2010 to 2016.
00:47:06She was there to do things. And she had a very impressive list of congressional accomplishments.
00:47:13She helped shape hundreds of bills.
00:47:15Barbara and other lawmakers stand behind President Ford signing a bill.
00:47:19She shakes his hand.
00:47:20Thank you, Mr. President.
00:47:23I watch your commentary.
00:47:24Do you now? I hope that they meet with your approval from time.
00:47:31From time to time.
00:47:33From time to time.
00:47:36Mary Beth Rogers author Barbara Jordan, American Hero.
00:47:39In 75, Barbara worked to ensure that the Voting Rights Act extension also included Hispanic groups.
00:47:48A headline, the Chicanos of Texas may get help outside the White House.
00:47:52The bill that I will sign today broadens the provisions to bar discrimination against Spanish-speaking Americans, American Indians, Alaskan
00:48:04Natives, and Asian Americans.
00:48:06Ford signs a certificate and hands it to Barbara.
00:48:09There you are.
00:48:12Barbara gives an interview.
00:48:14We will be here seven years from now.
00:48:16And if the act needs to be extended again, we'll do that.
00:48:18Barbara appears on the covers of Ebony Magazine and Time Magazine, along with other women of the year.
00:48:23A hand-drawn portrait of her on the cover of Texas Monthly shows her wearing a crown.
00:48:29Among your detractors, you're known as having an impatience with those not as smart as you.
00:48:35An impatience bordering on arrogance.
00:48:40Would you say that's fair?
00:48:42Oh, I think that's unfair.
00:48:43It is just my desire to see things move along expeditiously without too many missteps.
00:48:52The key to moving ahead has been understanding power.
00:48:55That includes knowing the rules.
00:48:57It also includes guarding her independence, avoiding labels, making alliances all right, but not risking too much on them.
00:49:06She was not really very active in the Black Caucus.
00:49:10She was just overcome with the responsibilities of her district.
00:49:15Blacks are concerned about heat, hot water, getting jobs, unemployment, and the Nixon administration.
00:49:20The politician who is Black will be successful in the larger arena when he can show and demonstrate flexibility on
00:49:30a broad spectrum of issues and not be a knee-jerk Black.
00:49:37Voice of Charles Rangel.
00:49:38I would gamble that if you would attempt to ask her what did it mean to you being a Black
00:49:45American that she'll find some way of telling you that she was just an American who happened to be Black.
00:49:52There is no law which says all Black people who are elected to Congress must agree with each other on
00:49:59every point.
00:50:00And you don't?
00:50:00And I don't.
00:50:02What about women?
00:50:04Other women members of Congress?
00:50:05This is the time that we will make women and men share equally in the greatness of America.
00:50:12She told Legislative Assistant Bob Alcock of a conversation she had with New York's militant Congresswoman Bella Abzug.
00:50:18Did you know that Bella wanted all the women to sit together on the floor today while they considered the
00:50:23women's rights bill?
00:50:25No, I didn't know that.
00:50:27Barbara smiles.
00:50:30That's very interesting.
00:50:33And I said I wouldn't sit with them.
00:50:35So she said well they would all come over and sit with me.
00:50:38And I told them I'd move.
00:50:41She would not call herself a feminist because it was considered a white woman's domain.
00:50:46That is how the National Organization of Women were unofficially identified.
00:50:52And Barbara Jordan was not going to be pigeonholed.
00:50:56You've been criticized from time to time by both Blacks and women for not being more a part of their
00:51:01team.
00:51:02I think I am contributing to the work of the team every time I get out of bed and go
00:51:09to work.
00:51:11There's a black and there's a woman on the job doing things hopefully beneficial to the interests of black people
00:51:19and of women.
00:51:24The very first man to die for the war of independence in this country was a black man named Crispus
00:51:30Attucks.
00:51:31Crispus Attucks.
00:51:40He was a fool.
00:51:44Oh, but we wanted to prove what great Americans we were.
00:51:48We begged the white folk to let us fight in the war of independence and they had us fighting the
00:51:52Indians.
00:51:53Like fools, we should have teamed up with the Indians and take care of you-know-who.
00:51:57A photo shows Barbara and other lawmakers standing behind the speaker's desk.
00:52:02I am militant in my insides.
00:52:07Black Panther members raise their fists. All power to the people.
00:52:10I know that there are problems which black people face which must be solved.
00:52:16And even though you seethe underneath and you want to break out in some kind of a display of aggressiveness,
00:52:25the truth of the matter is that in the back of your mind, you know that in the long run,
00:52:30that display of aggressiveness is going to retard the cause that you're trying to fulfill or to bring about.
00:52:38So you suppress. You suppress.
00:52:41Flickering purple and yellow light appears from static.
00:52:43Archival footage shows American soldiers.
00:52:45Writing on a soldier's helmet reads, Soul Power.
00:52:48A headline, Vietnam War Ends in American Disillusionment.
00:52:55The last eight years, we have seen the employment suffer a recession induced by the combination of Mr. Nixon and
00:53:06Mr. Ford.
00:53:06It's time that people found out that when God put us here, he said we were equal, you know.
00:53:12It's time to start thinking about that.
00:53:15I, Gerald R. Ford, do grant a full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the
00:53:26United States.
00:53:27For the past eight years, Washington, D.C. has been under a pollution alert because of the stench of republicanism
00:53:35accompanied by some other foul odors.
00:53:39And those other foul odors may be labeled dishonor, disgrace, betrayal of trust.
00:53:48The only way that we are going to be able to purify the air is to elect that rational, compassionate,
00:53:56depth of intellect man by the name of Jimmy Carter.
00:53:59Carter smiles and shakes hands with Barbara. 1976.
00:54:05My name is Jimmy Carter and I'm running for president.
00:54:11Voice of Alfre Woodard is Barbara Jordan.
00:54:13I made a decision to help Carter get elected because the two terms I served in Congress, I had Richard
00:54:20Nixon and Gerald Ford.
00:54:22And I thought one experience that you've got to have is to serve in Congress with a democratic president.
00:54:29Carter waves to supporters. A graphic reads, campaign 76. People walk through a city street. At the Democratic National Convention,
00:54:37officers carry flags. An NYPD officer flashes a wide smile. Text appears, 1976. At the convention, delegates hold letters that
00:54:46spell out, Texas thanks New York City.
00:54:51Sanfronia Thompson.
00:54:51I was going to get a chance to hear Barbara Jordan speak. And that was a big deal for her
00:54:57being the first African American speaking there.
00:55:01On stage, Barbara Beams.
00:55:07Ladies and gentlemen.
00:55:10Rodney Ellis, former member of Texas Senate, 1990 to 2017.
00:55:14When Bob Strauss introduced her, he didn't go through a litany of firsts.
00:55:20He just said, the Honorable Congresswoman Barbara Jordan from Houston.
00:55:24The Honorable Barbara Jordan Democrat of Houston, Texas.
00:55:25Democratic National Convention, July 12, 1976.
00:55:32Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
00:55:38144 years ago, members of the Democratic Party first met in convention to select a presidential candidate.
00:55:47And our meeting is a continuation of that tradition.
00:55:51But there is something different about tonight.
00:55:55There is something special about tonight.
00:55:58What is different? What is special?
00:56:01I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker.
00:56:05Applauding delegates rise to their feet.
00:56:12My presence here is one additional bit of evidence that the American dream need not forever be deferred.
00:56:28We have a positive vision of the future founded on the belief that the gap between the promise and reality
00:56:39of America can one day be finally closed.
00:56:44We believe that.
00:56:50Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind of a national community.
00:56:58It's tough, but a spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers when self-interest
00:57:08and bitterness seem to prevail, that we share a common destiny.
00:57:15I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community.
00:57:22I am going to close my speech by quoting a Republican president.
00:57:28And I ask you that as you listen to these words of Abraham Lincoln, relate them to the concept of
00:57:39a national community in which every last one of us participates.
00:57:51As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.
00:58:10This, this expresses my idea of democracy.
00:58:20Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
00:58:34Delegates stand and applaud as Barbara leaves the stage.
00:58:51Jimmy Carter brings Barbara up on stage with him, and the two of them smile and wave.
00:58:55Headlines cover Barbara's well-received speech at the convention.
00:58:59A photo shows Barbara beaming from ear to ear at the convention podium.
00:59:03A graphic appears.
00:59:0539th President of the United States.
00:59:07Jimmy and Roslyn Carter lead a parade past the Capitol building.
00:59:11Dan Rather, journalist.
00:59:11After Jimmy Carter was elected, there was all this speculation who was going to be appointed and what.
00:59:17Barbara and Carter pose for a photo.
00:59:19Barbara had one spot she wanted.
00:59:22She wanted to be Attorney General of the United States.
00:59:25Ron Kirk.
00:59:26She could do a lot on the issues she cares about.
00:59:29Anti-discriminating, voting rights, civil rights.
00:59:33Was it possible for Barbara Jordan to become Attorney General under Jimmy Carter in 1976?
00:59:40No.
00:59:42Society was not prepared.
00:59:44We were still gathered around the television set if a black person was on television in the 70s.
00:59:51I don't think that I'm trapped in representing the 18th Congressional District for the rest of my life.
00:59:57I may want to do something else.
00:59:59One of your colleagues said, Barbara Jordan has a gothic preoccupation with power.
01:00:06Politics, Paul, is about power, and to say that it's not, I think, is to deny the reality of politics.
01:00:14I don't yearn for power for myself, but I certainly yearn for power to get things done for the people
01:00:22I represent.
01:00:24Tonight, Carter interviews Representative Barbara Jordan, who is in the running for Attorney General.
01:00:29Barbara was excited to go to the meeting with Carter.
01:00:34On her way into Blair House, Representative Jordan said she hadn't the faintest idea what post she was being considered
01:00:40for,
01:00:40but sources said that it was indeed Attorney General.
01:00:43The Texas Congresswoman left 45 minutes later before the hour allotted for the interview had ended.
01:00:49Reporters mobbed Barbara heading to her car.
01:00:52I personally, as a reporter covering the story, thought that President Carter considered her seriously.
01:00:58A headline.
01:00:59Why not Barbara Jordan?
01:01:00Passed over by Carter for Attorney General.
01:01:04He had his guy, Griffin Bell, because people put their guys in.
01:01:11Voice of Alfre Woodard is Barbara Jordan.
01:01:13I felt that the black and the woman stuff were just side issues, and that people were going to ignore
01:01:20that.
01:01:21Now that was naivete on my part.
01:01:24Barbara Jordan's ambitions cost her a spot in Carter's cabinet.
01:01:27Dan Rather interviews Barbara.
01:01:28You were reported as being arrogant and saying that you would only consider a cabinet position of Attorney General.
01:01:34I suppose I was.
01:01:36That is, I don't know that there is any sin to be attached to one being arrogant if one has
01:01:44a reason to be arrogant.
01:01:46I do not apologize.
01:01:47A photo shows Carter and Andrew Young.
01:01:50Mary Beth Rogers.
01:01:50Andrew Young ultimately got the appointment as ambassador to the United Nations.
01:01:55And there were a number of key African American leaders who also served in his administration.
01:02:00But Barbara was not one of them.
01:02:03We've got to take that risk, Senator.
01:02:05In my judgment, the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution demand that we take that risk if those provisions
01:02:13of the Constitution are supposed to mean anything.
01:02:15The other politics is not easy for a woman, and that is period, no semicolon.
01:02:25There is a sense still that women are not quite up to the job.
01:02:32When it comes to deciding on difficult issues, that is perception that is not reality.
01:02:40Members of the media gather in Barbara's office.
01:02:42She sits behind her desk and talks into news microphones.
01:02:48I shall not seek elective office in 1978.
01:02:55I am going to serve out my term.
01:02:59I trust that there will be something for me to do the rest of my life.
01:03:04I believe that I have a contribution to continue to make in either the public or the private sector.
01:03:11But I felt that I had made an impact.
01:03:16And frankly, I couldn't think of any way I could do more or get the attention of more people or
01:03:26command the attention of more people or get them to listen.
01:03:30But I had done that.
01:03:32And given the structure of the body, as large and lumbersome and cumbersome as it is, in that setting, I
01:03:42felt that I had run out my strength.
01:03:45Rodney Ellis.
01:03:46If you think of that speech that Barbara Jordan gave at the Watergate impeachment proceedings.
01:03:52That was someone teaching a lesson.
01:03:55And then what does she do?
01:03:57She ends up becoming a teacher.
01:04:00It's Professor Barbara Jordan now, not Congresswoman Jordan anymore.
01:04:04Her audience now is 14 graduate students at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of
01:04:10Texas.
01:04:11Well, we're in new quarters here today, and I hope that...
01:04:14Morning, Dan.
01:04:15Morning.
01:04:16I want to test your powers of concentration.
01:04:20Ignore the lights.
01:04:23Ignore the camera.
01:04:25Ignore the star.
01:04:27And just, that is, that star, not this one.
01:04:30The class sits around a table.
01:04:32She loved to challenge those students.
01:04:35A photo shows Barbara with her students.
01:04:37I no longer have any interest in elective office.
01:04:41I think my future is in seeing to it that the next generation is ready to take over.
01:04:47Anise Parker.
01:04:47She had so much reach into places that desperately needed another image of someone.
01:04:54As we went into the AIDS epidemic, the deaths and the isolation, we so much needed role models and heroes
01:05:02and heroines to step up.
01:05:03And the question was posed to her why she was so silent on LGBT issues.
01:05:09And she said there are only so many banners she can carry at one time.
01:05:13And I understand.
01:05:15And it still makes me sad today.
01:05:17A news broadcast plays.
01:05:18A mystery disease known as the gay plague has become an epidemic unprecedented in the history of American medicine.
01:05:25Why haven't the bath house whose sole purpose is to provide a setting for casual, promiscuous homosexual sex been closed
01:05:33down?
01:05:34To add the AIDS virus to the list of contagious diseases for which immigrants and aliens can be denied entry.
01:05:44Nancy Reagan applauds.
01:05:46We'll make America great again.
01:05:51Closed captions appear under a speaker.
01:05:54The disability does not negate our entitlement to the same constitutional rights.
01:05:59Protesters march.
01:06:01We have failed.
01:06:04People who come to power have been more concerned with exacerbating our divisions rather than healing our wounds.
01:06:14If we are the inclusive society, the inclusive government we say we are, then everybody ought to have a say.
01:06:23On the sitcom A Different World.
01:06:24You're buying into the system.
01:06:26And you used to be about something.
01:06:28I am about something.
01:06:30I am about studying this system, understanding it so I can change it.
01:06:33Goodbye, Tracy Chapman.
01:06:35Hello, Barbara Jordan.
01:06:40A field of yellow flowers sways gently in a breeze.
01:06:43Austin, Texas.
01:06:44Deanne Friedholm, former student and assistant.
01:06:46Nancy and she designed their house that they wanted to have out in the country.
01:06:51There's this huge public area for entertaining.
01:06:56Voice of Rosemary McGowan.
01:06:58She would have plenty of food and a lot of group singing.
01:07:04In home video, people play instruments and sing in Barbara's packed living room.
01:07:10In photos, Barbara sits in a wheelchair and sings into a microphone.
01:07:13And of course Barbara would do solos every now and then.
01:07:18It was just so special and the older we got, the more special it became.
01:07:21Barbara laughs and covers her face.
01:07:24Of course there was food and there was fun.
01:07:27But she started to have an annual party for the team.
01:07:33In a basketball arena, a University of Texas Longhorn mascot plays to the crowd.
01:07:38Barbara and others sit courtside cheering on the women's basketball team.
01:07:41One of the pleasures that Barbara had as she came back to Austin was to go support the Lady Longhorns.
01:07:48The wonderful women's basketball team at the University of Texas.
01:07:52Judy Conrad.
01:07:53She became an instant expert.
01:07:55So she gave a lot of coaching advice.
01:07:58I asked her to refrain from berating the officials.
01:08:02Barbara would yell at these young women, can we not shoot?
01:08:07It was like, oh my God.
01:08:09And Barbara never missed a game.
01:08:12A player makes a jump shot.
01:08:14Voice of Ann Richards.
01:08:15Barbara Jordan and I were good friends for many years.
01:08:17We were friends other than being political friends.
01:08:20We sat together at the Lady Longhorn basketball games at the University of Texas.
01:08:28And oftentimes you'd be frustrated with Barbara because you couldn't get her to relax.
01:08:34You know, you couldn't get her to not be Barbara Jordan.
01:08:39And they like to tell dirty jokes to each other.
01:08:43Richards gives a speech.
01:08:44I'm delighted to be here with you this evening.
01:08:47Because after listening to George Bush all these years, I figured you needed to know what a real Texas accent
01:08:54sounds like.
01:08:56A photo shows Richards and Barbara at a campaign event.
01:09:00Richards poses behind Barbara's wheelchair.
01:09:02Cecile Richards, activist.
01:09:04When mom was elected governor, she was trying to change state government.
01:09:08Barbara said, yeah, I'm there with you.
01:09:11And Ann appointed Barbara as her ethics counsel.
01:09:16Ron Kirk.
01:09:17I cannot tell you how intimidating it was to walk into that room and be with the voice of God.
01:09:25And then immediately how warm and loving she was.
01:09:29She said, you can make money or you can do public service.
01:09:32But you're not going to intermingle the two.
01:09:35She pretty much carved out that niche.
01:09:40America's ethics advisor.
01:09:421987.
01:09:42It's with great pleasure that I today announce my intention to nominate United States Court of Appeals Judge Robert H.
01:09:49Bork to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court.
01:09:53Ted Kennedy.
01:09:53Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back alley abortions.
01:09:59Blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters.
01:10:03Rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids.
01:10:07And school children could not be taught about evolution.
01:10:10Writers and artists would be censured at the whim of government.
01:10:15Civil rights leaders who have been standing in line to denounce his nomination today got their chance.
01:10:20Joe Biden presides over the confirmation hearing.
01:10:23The hearing will come to order.
01:10:24It's an honor to have you here and I would ask you to raise your right hand if I may,
01:10:28Congresswoman, to be sworn.
01:10:29Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?
01:10:32I do, Mr. Chairman, and thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
01:10:35My opposition to this nomination is really a result of living 51 years as a black American born in the
01:10:48south and determined to be heard by the majority community.
01:10:54He has disagreed with the principle of one person, one vote, many times.
01:11:00This is what he said.
01:11:02I do not think there is a theoretical basis for it.
01:11:09That's my word.
01:11:11I'll tell you this much.
01:11:14There is a common sense, natural, rational basis for all votes counting equally.
01:11:24It would be very dangerous to have someone sitting on the Supreme Court who doesn't take individual rights seriously.
01:11:31The Supreme Court of the United States is the last bulwark of protection for our freedoms.
01:11:43Senator Humphrey, which title do you prefer?
01:11:47Whichever is comfortable for you.
01:11:51You throw it back every time, don't you?
01:11:55All right, Congresswoman Jordan, was the Senate wrong in confirming Robert Bork to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals?
01:12:04I don't know whether you were wrong.
01:12:05You might have been.
01:12:07Well, in your opinion.
01:12:08I'm asking in your opinion.
01:12:09I know.
01:12:10I know.
01:12:10I know what you're asking.
01:12:11The Senate, in its collective wisdom, apparently decided it was the correct thing for the Senate to do.
01:12:20And I would not second guess it.
01:12:22Okay.
01:12:23Well, but really, you're evading the question outrageously.
01:12:28First, you accused Robert Bork of violating the law.
01:12:30He did violate the law.
01:12:32Very well.
01:12:33Then, in your opinion, what possible reason could the Senate have for confirming unanimously someone you claim violated the law?
01:12:39The Senate maybe felt that that was not a serious enough aberration for them to deny confirmation.
01:12:48Oh, you really can't be serious.
01:12:51You can't be serious on that.
01:12:53Of course I can be.
01:12:55I've never seen you humorous, I must say, so maybe this is the first time, tongue-in-cheek.
01:13:04Um, you're very good.
01:13:05Barbara wears a wry grin.
01:13:10Professor, I believe I'll call you professor.
01:13:13All right.
01:13:18I could get a lesser person really over a barrel.
01:13:20I can't get you over that barrel.
01:13:22Um, let's talk about another point.
01:13:24You said something about you personally saw the Supreme Court as the guardian of your rights.
01:13:30I think here is the nub of this controversy.
01:13:32I view the Constitution and not judges as the guardian of our freedom, our rights, our liberty.
01:13:41You're right, this is the nub of the issue.
01:13:43Phew, got one.
01:13:45Finally, you're right.
01:13:47She smiles.
01:13:50The nub of the issue is this.
01:13:56Many people, particularly weak people, underprivileged, unrepresented, underrepresented, minority people, particularly the ouch,
01:14:14have looked to the Supreme Court as the rescuer.
01:14:21Mm-hmm.
01:14:22The Supreme Court will throw out a lifeline when the legislators and the governors and everybody else refuses to do
01:14:34so.
01:14:35Ashley Farmer.
01:14:35I think Jordan can see down the road how Supreme Court appointments can not only roll back some of those
01:14:42measures that helped catapult her,
01:14:44but also concerns about the punitive nature of lawmaking.
01:14:48We do not want to see an articulate and persuasive voice on the Supreme Court saying, that's not your function.
01:14:59Congress suffered when you left us, but it's a delight to have you back here.
01:15:03Thank you, Senator.
01:15:04I remember when you were a member of Congress, you were one of the most articulate members.
01:15:08I had the pleasure of serving on the conference committee with you, and I knew you in other ways.
01:15:14Strom Thurmond.
01:15:15Of course, I differ with you on this nomination, but I hope you're getting along nice in Texas and enjoying
01:15:20your work at the Leonard Johnson School of Government.
01:15:23Aye.
01:15:23There's an old English expression that says, character brings forth character.
01:15:28Joe Biden.
01:15:29You brought forth in this body when you were here and hopefully in this committee.
01:15:35Biden smiles at her.
01:15:36A headline.
01:15:37Bork's nomination is rejected 58 to 42.
01:15:40Reagan saddened.
01:15:41Deanne Friedholm, former student and assistant.
01:15:44There was a long time, for me 15 years, with Barbara where we didn't know what was going on with
01:15:51her health.
01:15:52Sylvia Garcia.
01:15:53I never heard exactly what it was.
01:15:56We were just shocked when she had a cane and they were shocked more when she had her wheelchair.
01:16:01I think we all just hoped that there was nothing wrong.
01:16:04A photo shows Barbara sitting at a table with friends.
01:16:07Barbara and Nancy were deeply devoted to each other.
01:16:13As Barbara needed more and more help physically, that was a test.
01:16:19Because any time a relationship changes from being partner's friends to caretaker, that was some rough years.
01:16:28And all of us tried to help.
01:16:32I watched her becoming more and more disabled.
01:16:35But it didn't affect her mind.
01:16:37She was still blowing and going and making speeches.
01:16:41The American dream is not dead.
01:16:43The 1992 Democratic Convention.
01:16:45It is not dead.
01:16:49It is gasping for breath.
01:16:52But it is not dead.
01:16:55The things that I was part of didn't change.
01:16:59And not one time ever did I hear Barbara complain.
01:17:04There was no self-pity.
01:17:06In Barbara's living room.
01:17:07Jerry, if you play, I'll sing.
01:17:09Okay.
01:17:10Barbara backs up her motorized wheelchair.
01:17:12If you go out some place and you see your baby stripped down on a long white table.
01:17:18Real, cold, fair.
01:17:22The problem is, he's dead.
01:17:27Let him go.
01:17:28Let him go.
01:17:29Let him go.
01:17:30Yes.
01:17:55Text appears.
01:17:571996.
01:17:5896.
01:18:01Barbara Jordan, the former congresswoman and memorable political orator, died today at
01:18:07the age of 59.
01:18:08Today, Texas lost a pioneer.
01:18:12I have this morning asked if the state flags be lowered to half-staff in memory of a great
01:18:18Texan.
01:18:20Life is not always fair.
01:18:22Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.
01:18:23And the people who have the most to contribute, why, I don't know why they are the ones we
01:18:32lose.
01:18:33My dear Barbara Jordan, if I were sitting on a porch, a cross from God, I would thank him
01:18:43for sending you to us.
01:18:45Well, Nancy, the truth is I'd counted on Barbara preaching my funeral.
01:18:51Ann Richards.
01:18:52She always could make things sound a lot better than they were.
01:18:58Bill Clinton.
01:18:59The last time I saw Barbara Jordan was when Liz Carpenter talked me into going to the
01:19:04University of Texas to give a speech on race relations on the day of the Million Man March.
01:19:13I was nervous enough as it was.
01:19:18And I walked out into that vast arena and there were 17,000 people there, but I could only see
01:19:27one, Barbara Jordan, smiling at me.
01:19:33And there I was about to give a speech to her about race and the Constitution.
01:19:46It was the nearest experience on this earth to the pastors giving a sermon with God in
01:19:52the audience.
01:19:58Barbara Jordan talked, we listened.
01:20:02She took to heart what her Grandpa Patton told her when she was a little girl.
01:20:07You just trot your own horse and don't get into the same rut as everyone else.
01:20:13Well, she sure trotted her own horse and she made her own path wide and deep.
01:20:19A cutout of Barbara rides a horse up into the sky.
01:20:22A Texas flag at the Texas State Cemetery waves in the breeze.
01:20:31Barbara's death and her wishes for her death came up fairly often because she wanted everyone
01:20:36to understand that she wanted to be buried on the highest hill in the State Cemetery next
01:20:44to Stephen F. Austin, who's the father of Texas.
01:20:48So where's Barbara Jordan buried?
01:21:00The word teacher adorns the back of Barbara's gravestone.
01:21:04She wanted to be remembered as a teacher.
01:21:08Archival footage shows Barbara walking down a sidewalk.
01:21:11Then she gives an interview.
01:21:12I'm a patriot and I don't feel that I need to apologize for that.
01:21:15I'm not willing to abandon patriotism to what is called the right wing.
01:21:23It sounds so old fashioned for a representative to say,
01:21:27I am going to protect the rights and secure the liberties of the American people.
01:21:33But that's what we're going to have to become.
01:21:35Old fashioned watchdogs of the civil liberties of American citizens.
01:21:39Barbara strolls through a park and walks up the front steps of the Texas State Capitol building.
01:21:52Text appears, 2025.
01:21:54A statue on the campus of Texas Southern University depicts Barbara with an open book in her lap and her
01:21:59palm raised.
01:22:00In a theater, TSU students sit for interviews.
01:22:03Growing up in Houston, Texas, I feel like I've always known the name.
01:22:08I found more about her once I joined the Texas Southern University debate team.
01:22:13Her voice, the way she speak, her speeches are something you can get drawn into.
01:22:21It's kind of like hearing the voice of God speaking.
01:22:24Students read.
01:22:25Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States.
01:22:30We the people.
01:22:32We the people.
01:22:32We the people.
01:22:34We the people.
01:22:34It's a very eloquent beginning.
01:22:36But when that document was completed, on the 17th of September in 1787...
01:22:42I was not included in that we the people.
01:22:45I felt somehow, for many years, that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton had just left me out by mistake.
01:22:57But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision...
01:23:02I have finally been included...
01:23:04I have finally been included...
01:23:04I have finally been included...
01:23:06I have finally been included...
01:23:06We the people.
01:23:07...in we the people.
01:23:08Today, I am an inquisitor.
01:23:11Today, I am an inquisitor.
01:23:14Today, I'm an inquisitor.
01:23:16Today?
01:23:17Today.
01:23:17Today.
01:23:18I am an inquisitor.
01:23:20I am an inquisitor.
01:23:21I am an inquisitor.
01:23:22I am an inquisitor.
01:23:24Today, I am an inquisitor.
01:23:25In an airport, a roped-off statue of Barbara depicts her sitting with her hands tented.
01:23:30Credits appear, including
01:23:31Directed and produced by Angela Lynn Tucker
01:23:33Produced by Trevite Willis, Moira Griffin
01:23:35Internal narration of Barbara Jordan voiced by Alfre Woodard
01:23:38We thank you for joining us as we dedicate the first building in the Texas Capitol complex to bear the
01:23:45name of a black woman, Barbara Jordan.
01:23:49A stone dedication inscription reads, Barbara Jordan Building.
01:23:52A black little girl performs the building's ribbon-cutting ceremony.
01:23:56Slabs of stone with Barbara's words etched into them surround another statue of her standing with her hands on her
01:24:01hips.
01:24:01Workers unveil a Barbara Jordan Memorial Parkway sign.
01:24:04A sign outside a children's park reads, Barbara Jordan Park.
01:24:07Words above a school entrance read, Barbara Jordan Elementary School.
01:24:11A colorful mural features Barbara.
01:24:13Description created by NCI described media.
01:24:17Independent Lens is made possible by
01:24:19The Action Circle for Independent Lens
01:24:21With major funding from
01:24:23The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
01:24:25Acton Family Giving
01:24:27The Ford Foundation
01:24:29The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation
01:24:31And contributions from the following
01:24:35Support for this Independent Lens presentation was provided by
01:24:39Funder Logos Appear
01:24:39Additional support for this series has been provided by
01:24:42The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
01:24:44And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.
01:24:51In a city, pedestrians walk down a sidewalk.
01:24:54Independent Lens
01:24:55Credits appear including
01:24:57Executive producer Lois Vossin
01:24:59Executive producer Carrie Lozano
01:25:00Series producer Anne Henderson
01:25:24Red and White Vertical Lines Descent
01:25:26ITVS
01:25:27Black text on a purple background
01:25:29Black public media
01:25:30MenΔ
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