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In 1972, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan became the first Southern Black woman to join Congress, one of many firsts in her career as a trailblazing political leader.
Director: Angela Lynn Tucker
Director: Angela Lynn Tucker
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00:00:11What the people want is very simple.
00:00:15They want an America as good as its promise.
00:00:24When you were with Barbara, you could never quite shake the feeling
00:00:30that you were in the presence of somebody that was truly great.
00:00:39Barbara Jordan blazed the trail.
00:00:42She 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.
00:00:50Barbara Jordan was a champion of our freedom, our Constitution, and our laws.
00:00:55She could walk into all white male spaces and be respected.
00:01:00She reached into the heart of people whose hearts didn't want to be reached into.
00:01:04She was someone who was respected across party lines.
00:01:08When Barbara Jordan spoke, you just sat up and listened.
00:01:11We are trying to spark the consciousness in depth of everybody in this country,
00:01:17and we feel that we have the capacity to do it.
00:01:19Barbara Jordan's got the voice of God.
00:01:22When people are eroding the foundation of the country,
00:01:26don't be silent.
00:01:27Don't be quiet.
00:01:29I see the conviction and honesty that she had.
00:01:34Something that is absent from politics today.
00:01:36I think this mood that we're in now is cyclical.
00:01:40I think people are basically good and honest and that they care,
00:01:46and I think we will return to that posture.
00:01:51She carried the fire.
00:01:53She carried the flame at a very critical time in American history.
00:01:58Today I am an inquisitor.
00:02:00My faith in the Constitution is whole.
00:02:03It is complete.
00:02:04It is total.
00:02:05And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator
00:02:09to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.
00:02:32It would be difficult to understand and recognize from where Barbara Jordan came to what she became.
00:02:40It's a great story.
00:02:42It's a great American story.
00:02:57You have the freedom to choose.
00:03:00The kind of future you want.
00:03:02You denied the luxury of opting out.
00:03:06You can't opt out.
00:03:07You're already in.
00:03:08How can you opt out where you are?
00:03:11You are involved in life.
00:03:15You make the choice to leave.
00:03:18But if you choose to leave, you must be sure you have the capability, the capacity, the competence to do
00:03:26the job.
00:03:40Myself and my two sisters grew up in the Fifth Ward of Houston.
00:03:46We didn't know that we were in a deprived sector of the city.
00:03:52When 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.
00:04:05We didn't worry about it too much.
00:04:12Barbara had a beautiful alto voice.
00:04:16We started singing together at the church to where we belong, at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church.
00:04:23And we even gave a little mini recitals.
00:04:29Grandpa Patton showed favoritism to Barbara.
00:04:33When we would go sometimes back to evening church, she would stay there with him.
00:04:41Grandpa Patton was a junk man.
00:04:44We would weigh that paper and weigh the rags, hitch up his mules, and go sell them.
00:04:52I say we because I was my grandpa Patton's partner in business.
00:04:57And we had more money than anybody we encountered.
00:05:08My father wanted excellence in his children.
00:05:13I was very proud of a report card.
00:05:16I had five A's and one B.
00:05:19My father, he looked at it and then with a scowl,
00:05:25Why do you have this B?
00:05:29So I was reverent toward him.
00:05:35He 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.
00:05:48I want to be a little bit different and superior to tell the truth.
00:06:02Barbara and I were students together in high school and we went on to Texas Southern University together.
00:06:09We were partners as members of the Texas Southern University debate team under the direction of Dr. Thomas Freeman.
00:06:19Dr. Thomas Freeman was a well-known, renowned debate coach and he taught Martin Luther King and some others.
00:06:28Under him, she learned about cadence and the importance of research, of enunciation, pacing.
00:06:37Everybody loved Dr. Freeman.
00:06:39All 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.
00:06:48You 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.
00:06:59Barbara 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.
00:07:17You realized the depth of her thought.
00:07:20And Barbara was the only woman who traveled with the debate team.
00:07:35We were to drive into a city.
00:07:39The signs are up.
00:07:42White, colored.
00:07:45Thomas Freeman would refuse to go in the back door.
00:07:50He said, we'll get a sandwich and eat it by the side of the road before I take you through
00:07:56the back door.
00:07:58That certainly made an impression on me.
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.
00:08:16It was a first.
00:08:18A black university in the south, as deep in the heart of Dixie as you could get,
00:08:26with an all-black debate team against Harvard University.
00:08:32The judges of the debate said it ended in a tie.
00:08:37People were shocked.
00:08:39Harvard is supposed to be so high and sharp and smart that debating a little group like TSU to call
00:08:48it a tie, we must have won.
00:08:53It just really told us personally that we could leave Texas Southern University and go on to do anything that
00:09:00we wanted to do.
00:09:03I was a sophomore at Texas Southern University.
00:09:07I can remember reading this big headline,
00:09:13Segregation Ends.
00:09:15And I said, hot dog.
00:09:18In my naivety, I thought tomorrow morning it was going to happen.
00:09:24When I say it was a miracle for her to come out of Fifth Ward of that era, I mean
00:09:31you 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.
00:09:48Before I went to law school, my world had been all black.
00:09:55And then I arrived to attend law school at Boston University.
00:10:01In our entering class, there were about 300 people.
00:10:08Of the 300, there were three or four blacks.
00:10:18I knew that if I worked harder and studied longer, I'd survive it.
00:10:24But one thing I discovered by observing is that young white people love to stop whatever they're doing and have
00:10:32a cup of coffee.
00:10:33I would just go around and say, you need to take a break.
00:10:37Let's have a cup of coffee.
00:10:38That always worked.
00:10:40I formed many friendships over a cup of coffee.
00:10:49The first thing I did when I got my law degree was to take the red ribbon off and make
00:10:56sure that my name was on it.
00:10:59And then I cried because of what had gone into it.
00:11:26The first law practice was in our dining room. She had her beginnings right at home.
00:11:34There was demand for legal assistance at the church where she was a member.
00:11:40And then the popularity did grow in the community.
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.
00:12:04Let us move toward the unified goal of an America where every man will be free to live and be
00:12:11whatever he desires to be.
00:12:13She started speaking at some events and began to come to public attention.
00:12:18The Democrats around there said you ought to run for the Texas House of Representatives.
00:12:27They saw Barbara as a person around whom the black community could coalesce.
00:12:36I ran twice for the Texas legislation was defeated.
00:12:40Why could I not win?
00:12:47It was a time when cities like Houston were gerrymandered in a different way because they stacked the deck.
00:12:54People had to run in these countywide districts.
00:12:57So that meant that in Houston, in Austin, Dallas, black voters never could get a majority of anything.
00:13:06The districts were discriminatory in how their lines were outlined in order to divide the black voting block.
00:13:13She 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.
00:13:29Then the Supreme Court established the principle of one person, one vote.
00:13:36That opened up the door for districts to be redrawn in ways where black people could represent.
00:13:41Black people.
00:13:43The Texas legislature was required to reapportion itself.
00:13:48So in 1966, I ran a gate.
00:13:52This time in one of those newly created state senatorial districts.
00:13:58I won.
00:14:00And my political career got started.
00:14:05It speaks to why it is important that we have people who accurately interpret these constitutional amendments.
00:14:15This is how we ended up with seats where black folk could have a voice.
00:14:22At 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.
00:14:34On her first day, she was like an unknown person from outer space coming into the Texas Senate.
00:14:40They didn't even have a restroom that she could use.
00:14:43And they had to build a bathroom specifically for her to use.
00:14:48The good thing about that is they let her design it.
00:14:54Everybody's going down to see what she looks like.
00:14:58To see someone come back to the Senate after Reconstruction, an African American and a woman,
00:15:06it made black people feel like they had a say and helped to shape their government.
00:15:14Barbara Jordan carried with her, at all times, the Constitution and a photo of her grandfather.
00:15:29My grandpa was always saying that you couldn't trust the world out there.
00:15:34So you had to figure things out for yourself.
00:15:37But you had to love humanity, even if you couldn't trust it.
00:15:47Barbara Jordan came along in an era in which you had a very conservative group of men who ran the
00:15:57Texas Senate.
00:15:58Many of the older white men who were in that had probably never had any kind of relationship with a
00:16:06black woman unless she was a maid in his house.
00:16:10I was Speaker of the House.
00:16:13And I went over to the Senate to see the Senate sworn in.
00:16:17There were a lot of older men that had reservations about what kind of Senator Barbara was going to be.
00:16:29The Senate would go on hunts.
00:16:31There were some reservations at first on part of the Senators.
00:16:35Well, are we going to ask Barbara? We're all men.
00:16:37No one really hunted.
00:16:38They played cards and drank whiskey and sang songs.
00:16:42Could Barbara fit in?
00:16:45We asked Barbara to go and not only did she fit in, she brought her guitar.
00:16:51She was one of the first ones down around the fire and had a glass of scotch in her hand.
00:16:56And she was one of the last ones to go to bed.
00:16:59Barbara Jordan was really a good old boy.
00:17:02And everybody realized that.
00:17:07She walked in with a certain level of credentials and she was able to demand a level of respect that
00:17:14they 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
00:17:29a disruptive force rather than a helping force, I enjoyed being in the Senate.
00:17:37The Texas Senate, you have to persuade people.
00:17:41So even if you shoot down that argument in debate, you've got to do it in such a way you
00:17:46don't anger them because you may need to vote ten minutes later.
00:17:51Barbara learned a whole lot about political power.
00:17:55Barbara did some things that some of her liberal friends would have been disappointed if they'd have known that she
00:18:02did that.
00:18:03We didn't agree politically on practically anything, but I got along with them and formed a party.
00:18:10Genuine friendships.
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.
00:18:27At the time, there was a really vibrant civil rights and black power movement going on.
00:18:36I tell you, I've got to change my life because I'm choking to death.
00:18:46The party is one with the people because we struggle with all the French people. We struggle against the international
00:18:53bourgeoisie.
00:18:53I went down the 31st of August to try to register. They wasn't ready for that in Mississippi. They shot
00:19:02in the house 15 times thinking that I was there.
00:19:15You, my friends, can help somehow tear down these walls that divides people into groups and separates them.
00:19:25You, the people of this country, I ask you, what about the basic and fundamental problem of human understanding of
00:19:33a human care for human beings?
00:19:44There was an upswing of women being energized politically.
00:19:52Most of the more progressive issues that Barbara Jordan wanted to pass were not going to pass the Texas Senate.
00:20:02It's not an anti-male chauvinistic movement, and I know, men, that there are some of you who remain reluctant
00:20:10to embrace the cause of the equality of women.
00:20:13We want to help you. We want to help you. You need help.
00:20:25In Texas, it was not until 73 that a woman was able to have a credit card in her name
00:20:33about property.
00:20:38Barbara wanted the equal rights constitutional amendment for women to pass and wanted Texas to be one of the early
00:20:44states to do it.
00:20:46She was able to reach out to people on all sides and pull them together.
00:20:53She got to be the author of the Equal Rights Constitutional Amendment for Women.
00:20:59One of the first legislative branches of any state that passed in the United States.
00:21:15Keep in mind that in the days when she grew up, the goal for girls at the time was to
00:21:23find a marriage as soon as possible,
00:21:26and to be rescued from your situation as a woman.
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?
00:21:48One thing I learned early on was that you can't work all the time.
00:21:54You 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.
00:22:08She 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.
00:22:34She enjoyed being with Nancy Earl.
00:22:37She finally felt she could relax and be herself.
00:22:46SCR number 14.
00:22:49All those in favor of adoption of the resolution, vote aye.
00:22:53Those opposed, vote no.
00:22:56Ayes have it. Resolution is adopted.
00:22:58Barbara was an independent person who had an agenda to represent her district.
00:23:04Our 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 center here?
00:23:20No, they don't.
00:23:21I always stay here once.
00:23:22But I go to school.
00:23:23You go to school?
00:23:24I take in high school night, tonight, 30 weeks.
00:23:26So if you can find someone who can take care of the two youngest children...
00:23:30I will go over to work.
00:23:31...you would be able to work?
00:23:33Yes, ma'am.
00:23:36And she had a agenda way beyond the borders of Texas.
00:23:40She wanted to go to Washington.
00:23:44A group of us found the empty building and we set up the headquarters.
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
00:24:02her.
00:24:12Her main opponent in the Democratic primary was Curtis Graves.
00:24:16You hear candidates now talking about law and order.
00:24:19They 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,
00:24:27but 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.
00:24:43Curtis Graves had been a bomb-throwing, very progressive, outspoken member of the House.
00:24:50And so you had a lot of angst out there in the black community.
00:24:55I served in the Texas legislature at the same time that Barbara Jordan did.
00:25:00I guess she chose not to be affiliated with the causes that I was involved in because they were a
00:25:05little too liberal for her politics.
00:25:08Barbara Jordan looked really good in terms of this being her time.
00:25:13He had also still put in the time.
00:25:18He was a firebrand who liked to be confrontational.
00:25:22He tried to make it look like Barbara Jordan was kowtowing to the old white guys.
00:25:29And, 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 dark complexion woman.
00:25:48The press seldom presented me in a favorable light.
00:26:04The world had decided that we were all Negro.
00:26:08But 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.
00:26:37Everything 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.
00:26:46You're going to feel that kind of pain that comes from that kind of scrutiny.
00:26:52And if you don't want that kind of scrutiny, don't seek the office.
00:27:01By that time, Barbara Jordan was able to have the relationships with both the Black community and the union community,
00:27:09which crossed racial lines.
00:27:12I was trying to get the hard-nosed, crusty business establishment in the city of Houston to come to the
00:27:22fundraising 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, Lyndon Johnson is coming.
00:27:37Lyndon Johnson came to the first reception that we had at the Rice Hotel in Houston when Barbara Jordan was
00:27:44going to run for Congress.
00:27:45And, of course, that guaranteed a success of the rally.
00:27:49And anybody who thought they were somebody came to the Rice Hotel.
00:27:57And, 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,
00:28:06if ever you need anything from me, just call.
00:28:12He looked at her as the future of the New South.
00:28:16We gave you Lyndon Johnson, and now we're giving you Barbara Jordan.
00:28:25He saw and heard the potential.
00:28:29And that was a friendship that lasted until Johnson died.
00:28:37That picture was on the front page of the newspapers throughout Texas.
00:28:47Curtis Grace just didn't have what Barbara Jordan had.
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.
00:29:03And that may have been a wise decision.
00:29:05Eventually 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.
00:29:21And I guarantee you, you have that.
00:29:27I would only hope that in these next four years, we can so conduct ourselves in this country, that years
00:29:37from now, people will look back to the generation of the 1970s and they will say, God bless America.
00:30:01Nancy came to Washington with Barbara.
00:30:07When you look back, yes, it's easy to see that they were a couple.
00:30:11They shared a house together.
00:30:12They shared a life together.
00:30:14And publicly, that was all there was to it.
00:30:23Nancy cared for Barbara Jordan, respected her, gave her her space.
00:30:27Nancy understood that Barbara Jordan's love in life was politics.
00:30:37The civil rights movement is still alive and well.
00:30:42Its methodology has perhaps changed.
00:30:45The political arena.
00:30:47That's where the black radicals have gone.
00:30:53The Congressional Black Caucus started in 1971.
00:30:58Black people are in that space in a way that we never have been before.
00:31:03The difference in state and federal, there's a lot more eyes on you and cameras rolling.
00:31:20You'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?
00:31:28Well, I'm often asked whether I feel historical, and I really don't.
00:31:40Barbara Jordan wanted to be on the House Judiciary Committee.
00:31:43You're the one.
00:31:44You're the one.
00:31:44There were very few women.
00:31:46You're gonna do the silver work.
00:31:47But there we were together.
00:31:50It was a hard slog.
00:31:52You get there, and all of a sudden you're voting on agricultural appropriations.
00:31:57Well, I'm from Brooklyn.
00:31:57I don't know too much about farming.
00:32:01But, of course, what I didn't know was that when impeachments come up, the House Judiciary Committee plays the key
00:32:08role.
00:32:12The Democratic National Committee is trying to solve a spy mystery.
00:32:16Five intruders were captured by police inside the offices of the committee in Washington.
00:32:20The five men carried cameras and apparently had planted electronic bugs.
00:32:24Mr. Nixon says emphatically that the White House is in no way involved in the burglary and bugging of the
00:32:30Democratic 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.
00:32:45And, of course, Nixon said this was completely untrue.
00:32:48I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their president's a crook.
00:32:53Well, I'm not a crook.
00:32:55There were rumblings about impeaching the president, but no serious rumblings.
00:33:01I had always had the highest respect possible for the presidency, and I could not imagine that I would be
00:33:10engaged 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.
00:33:26This 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...
00:33:40I not only did a lot of homework and study, I lived the impeachment matter.
00:33:47It was a 24-hour-a-day engagement.
00:33:52Could I ask any of you to say what your own definition of impeachable offense is?
00:33:56I have no difficulty saying that.
00:33:58I 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.
00:34:11That was enough for the rest of us.
00:34:13But she needed the facts.
00:34:16The great disservice to the country would be to react emotionally.
00:34:22Some of my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee said,
00:34:25he's guilty, I'm ready to vote.
00:34:27I said, but I am not.
00:34:29And I will not be ready until I have satisfied my own mind that reason,
00:34:37reason 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.
00:34:59The 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.
00:35:09It's a long list.
00:35:12I felt as though there was no bottom to the misconduct, abuses of power of Nixon and of his team.
00:35:22There was so much criminal, let's be honest about it, criminal stuff going on.
00:35:34It was three evenings that the 38 members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee each had 15 minutes to
00:35:41say something about the matter of impeachment.
00:35:441970s. We didn't have social media. We didn't have all these distractions. We actually all watched the news.
00:35:52Everybody was glued to what was happening in these proceedings.
00:35:57Barbara was always a little bit of a perfectionist.
00:36:00She told me that on the way down to the hearing, she made some revisions to the text.
00:36:05If I can get into the vernacular, I had to have my stuff together.
00:36:11I felt that I was participating in a very important historical event.
00:36:19What was at stake?
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?
00:36:36Barbara Jordan's address sharply focused on the question.
00:36:41I recognize the gentlelady from Texas as Jordan.
00:36:47The purpose of general debate, not to exceed a period of 15 minutes.
00:36:51Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:36:53That's right.
00:36:54Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States.
00:37:01We the people.
00:37:03It's a very eloquent beginning.
00:37:06But when that document was completed on the 17th of September in 1787, I was not included in that we
00:37:13the people.
00:37:15I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake.
00:37:23But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in we the people.
00:37:33Today, I am an inquisitor.
00:37:37And hyperbole would not be fictional and would not overstate the solemnness that I feel right now.
00:37:45My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total.
00:37:50And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction
00:37:59of the Constitution.
00:38:03When 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
00:38:20to be born African-American in this country.
00:38:23We know the nature of impeachment.
00:38:26We'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.
00:38:42It is designed as a method of national inquest into the conduct of public men.
00:38:47When framers confided in the Congress, the power if need be to remove the president in order to strike a
00:38:55delicate balance between a president swollen with power and grown tyrannical and preservation of the independence of the executive.
00:39:05But impeachment must proceed within the confines of the constitutional term high crime and misdemeanors.
00:39:15If the impeachment provision in the Constitution of the United States will not reach the offenses charged here, then perhaps
00:39:23that 18th century Constitution should be abandoned to a 20th century paper shredder.
00:39:30Barbara Jordan built a case that we're not doing this. The framers envisioned this. And they didn't envision it for
00:39:38something trivial. They envisioned it for something serious.
00:39:41She essentially walked America through the Constitution, the amendments, the debate over the impeachment articles.
00:39:51With 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.
00:40:01It is reason and not passion which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate and guide our decision.
00:40:11I yield back the balance of my time to shallower.
00:40:16I recognize the...
00:40:18Barbara Jordan was looking the camera right straight in the eye, looked down the throat of the camera and said,
00:40:25America, this is what's on the typo. This is what we have to decide. See it clearly. Have no confusion
00:40:33about it. This, my friends, is what it's about.
00:40:36No question. It was an emotional time because so much was at stake.
00:40:42Mr. Cyberling. Aye.
00:40:44Mr. Danielson. Aye.
00:40:47Mr. Dreinen. Aye.
00:40:48Ms. Holtzman. Aye.
00:40:50Mr. Rangel. Aye.
00:40:53Ms. Jordan. Aye.
00:40:56Behind the committee hearing room, several of us cried. Absolutely shed tears. For Richard Nixon? No. But that the country
00:41:09had come to this.
00:41:11The House Judiciary Committee today recommended formally the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
00:41:19Republican leaders, seeing that the midterm elections were about to come up, knew that if Nixon were going to fight
00:41:25this, that no Republicans would have been elected.
00:41:30Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
00:41:45When she left the Capitol that night, there were people waiting outside as she got in her car to leave.
00:41:51She couldn't believe it. And then in the days following that, the outpouring.
00:41:56I'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.
00:42:08It's no small thing to be socialized in the state of Texas as a black woman being pushed down the
00:42:17way she was.
00:42:19How do you come through that and then present yourself to the nation in such a forceful way?
00:42:28Can 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
00:42:37slaves, undoubtedly?
00:42:39And look what the country's done to us, et cetera, et cetera.
00:42:42Well, certainly some a few will say, how can you say that? And you're just you're lying to people.
00:42:48You can't really believe that you said it because it sounds pretty to feel that way.
00:42:53Well, Dick, if and I do believe in the basic fundamental ideas on which this country was founded.
00:43:03What if I checked out, checked out on the country, checked out on the Constitution, decided it really doesn't have
00:43:10anything to do with the inclusion of me now or ever.
00:43:15Then what do I do? Pack up my bags and go to sea?
00:43:21I think for the first time, she may not have been looked upon as a black person, but as an
00:43:28American.
00:43:29Barbara Jordan became a media personage, a household name.
00:43:33Her speaking calendar booked solid a year in advance.
00:43:39The fact that she's the first this or the first that isn't what's kept her at the top.
00:43:43It's a keen intelligence, a voice, a presence.
00:43:48Let's talk about the mystery of Barbara Jordan.
00:43:52Is marriage anything that comes into your thinking?
00:43:55Oh, from time to time comes into my thinking.
00:43:58What do you do when it does?
00:44:00I look around and see who's available.
00:44:02And I usually come up with a blank.
00:44:04And so then I don't get married.
00:44:08Would you mind if it didn't happen?
00:44:11I don't think I'd take to my bed over it.
00:44:17As a matter of fact, I think I could survive it.
00:44:22The press was pretty gentle about people's sexuality.
00:44:28If they didn't come out of the closet, I don't remember her discussing it.
00:44:36If Barbara Jordan was in office and she had even indicated that she was a gay person and tried to
00:44:42come out,
00:44:42she would have been ostracized, first of all, by the black community.
00:44:47She would have been driven out of office.
00:44:50She would have lost all her credibility, all her fame.
00:44:53It just would have gone down the drain.
00:44:57You compound homophobia and racism.
00:45:01It's a toxic combination.
00:45:06She had really good reasons for keeping her relationship quiet.
00:45:11At the same time, her friends always said, you know, she never denied it in personal relationships.
00:45:16It wasn't a case of internalized homophobia that she pretended to the people that she trusted,
00:45:22that 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.
00:45:41Shortly after the Watergate hearings, she noticed some changes in her vision and some weakness in her muscles.
00:45:48So she went in for some tests.
00:45:51The initial tests came back as multiple sclerosis.
00:45:56The type of MS that Barbara Jordan had, you'd have an attack and then remission.
00:46:02And each attack would leave a portion of your body further damaged.
00:46:08But she kept it secret.
00:46:13The family seemed to have been the last to know specifically what the illness was.
00:46:19She did not discuss it with us.
00:46:22We noticed a deterioration.
00:46:25And knew that she was doing all that was possible to improve it.
00:46:32So little was done about the disease at the time or potential cures.
00:46:38There was an uncertainty within her about her own life and well-being.
00:46:45But like so many things in Barbara's life, she put it aside because she was going to go do what
00:46:50she 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.
00:46:58A political office isn't a destination, it's a tool.
00:47:07She was there to do things.
00:47:09And she had a very impressive list of Congressional accomplishments.
00:47:13She helped shape hundreds of bills.
00:47:20Congratulations.
00:47:21Thank you, Mr. President.
00:47:23I watch your commentary.
00:47:25Do you now?
00:47:26I hope that they meet with your approval from time.
00:47:32From time to time.
00:47:39In 75, Barbara worked to ensure that the Voting Rights Act extension also included Hispanic groups.
00:47:53The bill that I will sign today broadens the provisions to bar discrimination against Spanish-speaking Americans.
00:48:02American Indians, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Asian Americans.
00:48:10There you are.
00:48:14We will be here seven years from now, and if the act needs to be extended again, we'll do that.
00:48:30Among your detractors, you're known as having an impatience with those not as smart as you.
00:48:36An impatience bordering on arrogance.
00:48:40Would you say that's fair?
00:48:43Oh, I think that's unfair.
00:48:44It is just my desire to see things move along expeditiously without too many missteps.
00:48:53The key to moving ahead has been understanding power.
00:48:56That includes knowing the rules.
00:48:58It also includes guarding her independence, avoiding labels, making alliances all right, but not risking too much on them.
00:49:07She was not really very active in the Black Caucus.
00:49:11She 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
00:49:31a broad spectrum of issues and not be a knee-jerk Black.
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.
00:49:53There 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?
00:50:01And I don't.
00:50:03What about women?
00:50:04Other women members of Congress?
00:50:06This is the time that we will make women and men share equally in the greatness of America.
00:50:13She 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
00:50:24Women's Rights Bill?
00:50:26No, I didn't know that.
00:50:31That's very interesting.
00:50:33And I said I wouldn't sit with them.
00:50:36So she said, well, they would all come over and sit with me.
00:50:39And I told them I'd move.
00:50:41She would not call herself a feminist because it was considered a white woman's domain.
00:50:47That is how the National Organization of Women were unofficially identified.
00:50:53And 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 part of their team.
00:51:03I 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
00:51:20and of women.
00:51:24The very first man to die for the war of independence in this country was a black man named Crispus
00:51:31Attucks.
00:51:32Crispus Attucks.
00:51:41He was a fool.
00:51:45Oh, 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.
00:51:51And they had us fighting the Indians like fools.
00:51:55We should have teamed up with the Indians and take care of you-know-who.
00:52:03I am militant in my insides.
00:52:11I know that there are problems which black people face which must be solved.
00:52:17And even though you see underneath and you want to break out in some kind of a display of aggressiveness,
00:52:26the truth of the matter is that in the back of your mind you know that in the long run
00:52:31that display of aggressiveness is going to retard the cause that you're trying to fulfill or to bring about.
00:52:39So you suppress. You suppress.
00:52:56The last eight years we have seen the employment suffer a recession induced by the combination of Mr. Nixon and
00:53:06Mr. Ford.
00:53:07It'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
00:53:27United States.
00:53:27For the past eight years Washington D.C. has been under a pollution alert because of the stench of republicanism
00:53:36accompanied by some other foul odors.
00:53:40And 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 Carver.
00:54:06My name is Jimmy Carter and I'm running for president.
00:54:14I made a decision to help Carter get elected because the two terms I served in Congress I had Richard
00:54:21Nixon 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.
00:54:52I was going to get a chance to hear Barbara Jordan speak and that was a big deal for her
00:54:58being the first African-American student.
00:55:00I'm speaking there.
00:55:01Ladies and gentlemen.
00:55:07Ladies and gentlemen.
00:55:09Ladies and gentlemen.
00:55:15When Bob Strauss introduced her, he didn't go through a litany of firsts.
00:55:21He just said the Honorable Congresswoman Barbara Jordan from Houston.
00:55:25The Honorable Barbara Jordan Democrat of Houston, Texas.
00:55:33Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
00:55:36One hundred and forty-four years ago, members of the Democratic Party first met in convention to select a presidential
00:55:47candidate.
00:55:48And our meeting is a continuation of that tradition.
00:55:52But there is something different about tonight.
00:55:55There is something special about tonight.
00:55:57What is different?
00:56:00What is special?
00:56:02I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker.
00:56:13My 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
00:56:40of America can one day be finally closed.
00:56:44We believe that.
00:56:51Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind of a national community.
00:56:59It's tough, but a spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers when self-interest
00:57:09and bitterness seem to prevail, that we share a common destiny.
00:57:16I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community.
00:57:22Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to close my speech by quoting a Republican president.
00:57:29And I ask you that, as you listen to these words of Abraham Lincoln, relate them to the concept of
00:57:40a national community in which every last one of us participates.
00:57:52As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.
00:58:03This.
00:58:11This.
00:58:13This.
00:58:14This expresses my idea of democracy.
00:58:19democracy.
00:58:20Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
00:59:12After Jimmy Carter was elected, there was all this speculation who was going to be appointed
00:59:19what Barbara had one spot she wanted. She wanted to be Attorney General of the United States.
00:59:26She could do a lot on the issues she cares about, anti-discriminating, voting rights, civil rights.
00:59:33Was it possible for Barbara Jordan to become Attorney General under Jimmy Carter in 1976? No.
00:59:43Society was not prepared. We were still gathered around the television set if a black person was
00:59:49on television in the 70s. I don't think that I'm trapped in representing the 18th Congressional
00:59:56District for the rest of my life. I may want to do something else. One of your colleagues said
01:00:01Barbara Jordan has a gothic preoccupation with power. Politics, Paul, is about power and to say
01:00:10that it's not, I think, is to deny the reality of politics. I don't yearn for power for myself,
01:00:18but I certainly yearn for power to get things done for the people I represent.
01:00:25Tonight, Carter interviews Representative Barbara Jordan, who is in the running for Attorney General.
01:00:30Barbara was excited to go to the meeting with Carter.
01:00:35On her way into Blair House, Representative Jordan said she hadn't the faintest idea what post she was
01:00:40being considered for, but sources said that it was indeed Attorney General. The Texas Congresswoman
01:00:46left 45 minutes later before the hour allotted for the interview had ended.
01:00:53I personally, as a reporter covering the story, thought that President Carter considered her seriously.
01:01:05He had his guy, Griffin Bell, because people put their guys in.
01:01:14I felt that the black and the woman stuff were just side issues and that people were going to ignore
01:01:21that.
01:01:22Now that was naivete on my part.
01:01:29You were reported as being arrogant and saying that you would only consider a cabinet position of Attorney General.
01:01:35I suppose I was.
01:01:37That is, I don't know that there is any
01:01:41sin to be attached to one being arrogant if one has a reason to be arrogant.
01:01:46I do not apologize.
01:01:51Andrew Young ultimately got the appointment as ambassador to the United Nations,
01:01:56and there were a number of key African-American leaders who also served in his administration,
01:02:01but Barbara was not one of them.
01:02:04We've got to take that risk, Senator. In my judgment, the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution
01:02:11demand that we take that risk if those provisions of the Constitution are supposed to mean anything.
01:02:16The politics is not easy for a woman, and that is period, no semicolon.
01:02:26There 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.
01:02:49I shall not seek elective office in 1978.
01:02:56I am going to serve out my term.
01:02:59I trust that there will be something for me to do with the rest of my life.
01:03:05I believe that I have a contribution to continue to make in either the public or the private sector.
01:03:12I felt that I had made an impact, and frankly, I couldn't think of any way I could do more
01:03:22or get the attention of more people or command the attention of more people or get them to listen that
01:03:31I 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
01:03:43felt that I had run out my strength.
01:03:47If you think of that speech that Barbara Jordan gave at the Watergate impeachment proceedings, that was someone teaching a
01:03:55lesson.
01:03:56And then what does she do?
01:03:58She ends up becoming a teacher.
01:04:01It's Professor Barbara Jordan now, not Congresswoman Jordan anymore.
01:04:05Her audience now is 14 graduate students at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of
01:04:11Texas.
01:04:12Well, we're in new quarters here today, and I hope that...
01:04:15Morning, Dan.
01:04:16Morning.
01:04:16I want to test your power, your concentration.
01:04:21Ignore the lights.
01:04:23Ignore the camera.
01:04:26Ignore the star.
01:04:28And just, that is, that star, not this one.
01:04:32She loved to challenge those 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.
01:04:46To take over.
01:04:48She had so much reach into places that desperately needed another image of someone.
01:04:55As we went into the AIDS epidemic, the death and the isolation, we so much needed role models and heroes
01:05:03and heroines to step up.
01:05:04And 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.
01:05:14And I understand.
01:05:16And it still makes me sad today.
01:05:19A mystery disease known as the gay plague has become an epidemic unprecedented in the history of American medicine.
01:05:26Why haven't the bathhouses whose sole purpose is to provide a setting for casual, promiscuous, homosexual sex been closed down?
01:05:34To add the AIDS virus to add the AIDS virus to the list of contagious diseases for which immigrants and
01:05:39aliens can be denied entry.
01:05:46We'll make America great again.
01:05:50It's like a jungle sometimes.
01:05:51It makes me wonder how I keep going under.
01:05:53The disability does not negate our entitlement to the same constitutional rights.
01:06:02We have failed people who come to power have been more concerned with exacerbating our divisions rather than healing our
01:06:13wounds.
01:06:15If we are the inclusive society, the inclusive government we say we are, then everybody ought to have a say.
01:06:24Freddie, you're buying into the system.
01:06:26And you used to be about something.
01:06:29I am about something.
01:06:30I am about studying this system, understanding it, so I can change it.
01:06:34Goodbye, Tracy Chapman.
01:06:36Hello, Barbara Jordan.
01:06:47Nancy and she designed their house that they wanted to have out in the country.
01:06:52There's this huge public area for entertaining.
01:06:58She would have plenty of food and a lot of group singing.
01:07:14And of course, Barbara would do solos every now and then.
01:07:18It was just so special.
01:07:20And the older we got, the more special it became.
01:07:25Of course, there was food and there was fun.
01:07:28But she started to have an annual party for the 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.
01:07:53She became an instant expert, so she gave a lot of coaching advice.
01:07:59I asked her to refrain from berating the officials.
01:08:03Barbara would yell at these young women,
01:08:05Can we not shoot?
01:08:07It was like, Oh my God.
01:08:10And Barbara never missed a game.
01:08:15Barbara Jordan and I were good friends for many years.
01:08:18We were friends other than being political friends.
01:08:21We sat together at the Lady Longhorn Basketball Games at the University of Texas.
01:08:29And 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.
01:08:40And they'd like to tell dirty jokes to each other.
01:08:45I'm delighted to be here with you this evening.
01:08:48Because after listening to George Bush all these years,
01:08:52I figured you needed to know what a real Texas accent sounds like.
01:09:04When mom was elected governor, she was trying to change state government.
01:09:09Barbara said, Yeah, I'm there with you.
01:09:12And Anne appointed Barbara as her ethics counsel.
01:09:17I cannot tell you how intimidating it was to walk into that room
01:09:23and be with the voice of God, and then immediately how warm and loving she was.
01:09:29She said, You can make money or you can do public service.
01:09:33But you're not going to intermingle the two.
01:09:36She pretty much carved out that niche.
01:09:40America's ethics advisor.
01:09:43It's with great pleasure that I today announce my intention
01:09:46to nominate United States Court of Appeals Judge Robert H. Bork
01:09:50to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court.
01:09:54Robert Bork's America is a land in which women
01:09:57would be forced into back alley abortions.
01:10:00Blacks 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.
01:10:11Writers and artists would be censured at the whim of government.
01:10:14You don't get converted and become...
01:10:15Civil rights leaders who have been standing in line
01:10:18to denounce his nomination today got their chance.
01:10:23Hearing will come to order.
01:10:25It's an honor to have you here,
01:10:26and I would ask you to raise your right hand,
01:10:28if I may, Congresswoman, to be sworn.
01:10:30Do you swear to tell the whole truth
01:10:31and nothing but the truth, so I'll help you God.
01:10:33I do, Mr. Chairman, and thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
01:10:36My opposition to this nomination
01:10:38is really a result of living 51 years
01:10:44as a black American born in the South
01:10:49and determined to be heard by the majority community.
01:10:55He has disagreed with the principle
01:10:58of one person, one vote, many times.
01:11:01This is what he said.
01:11:03I do not think there is a theoretical basis for it.
01:11:10My word.
01:11:12I'll tell you this much.
01:11:14There is a common-sense,
01:11:18natural,
01:11:20rational basis
01:11:22for all votes counting equally.
01:11:25It would be very dangerous
01:11:27to have someone sitting on the Supreme Court
01:11:29who doesn't take individual rights seriously.
01:11:32The Supreme Court of the United States
01:11:35is the last bulwark of protection
01:11:40for our freedoms.
01:11:43Senator Humphrey,
01:11:45which title do you prefer?
01:11:48Whichever is comfortable for you.
01:11:51You throw it back every time, don't you?
01:11:55All right.
01:11:57Congresswoman Jordan,
01:11:59was the Senate wrong in confirming Robert Bork
01:12:02to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals?
01:12:05I don't know whether you were wrong.
01:12:06You might have been.
01:12:07Well, in your opinion.
01:12:08I'm asking in your opinion.
01:12:10I know.
01:12:10I know what you're asking.
01:12:12The Senate,
01:12:13in its collective wisdom,
01:12:16apparently decided
01:12:17it was the correct thing
01:12:19for the Senate to do,
01:12:21and I would not second-guess it.
01:12:23Okay.
01:12:23Well, but really,
01:12:25you're evading the question outrageously.
01:12:28First, you accused Robert Bork
01:12:30of violating the law.
01:12:31He did violate the law.
01:12:33Very well.
01:12:33Then, in your opinion,
01:12:34what possible reason
01:12:35could the Senate have
01:12:36for confirming unanimously
01:12:37someone you claim
01:12:39violated the law?
01:12:40The Senate maybe felt
01:12:42that that was not
01:12:44a serious enough aberration
01:12:47for them to deny confirmation.
01:12:49Oh, you really can't be serious.
01:12:51You can't be serious on that.
01:12:53Of course I can be.
01:12:56I've never seen you humorous,
01:12:58I must say,
01:12:58so maybe this is the first time,
01:13:01tongue-in-cheek.
01:13:05You're very good.
01:13:10Professor,
01:13:11I believe I'll call you professor.
01:13:14All right.
01:13:18I could get a lesser person
01:13:20really over a barrel.
01:13:21I can't get you over that barrel.
01:13:23Let's talk about another point.
01:13:25You said something about
01:13:26you personally saw
01:13:27the Supreme Court
01:13:28as the guardian of your rights.
01:13:31Think here as the nub
01:13:32of this controversy.
01:13:33I view the Constitution
01:13:34and not judges
01:13:36as the guardian of our freedom,
01:13:39our rights,
01:13:39our liberty.
01:13:41You're right.
01:13:42This is the nub of your issue.
01:13:43Got one.
01:13:46Finally, you're right.
01:13:51The nub of the issue
01:13:53is this.
01:13:57Many people,
01:13:59particularly
01:14:00weak people,
01:14:04underprivileged,
01:14:06unrepresented,
01:14:08underrepresented,
01:14:09minority people,
01:14:11particularly
01:14:12the ouch,
01:14:15have looked
01:14:17to the Supreme Court
01:14:18as the rescuer.
01:14:22The Supreme Court
01:14:24will throw out
01:14:25a lifeline
01:14:26when the legislators
01:14:29and the governors
01:14:30and the everybody else
01:14:33refuses to do so.
01:14:36I think Jordan
01:14:37can see down the road
01:14:39how Supreme Court appointments
01:14:41can not only roll back
01:14:42some of those measures
01:14:43that helped catapult her,
01:14:45but also concerns
01:14:46about the punitive nature
01:14:48of lawmaking.
01:14:49We do not want to see
01:14:50an articulate
01:14:52and persuasive voice
01:14:54on the Supreme Court
01:14:56saying,
01:14:57that's not your function.
01:15:00Congress suffered
01:15:01when you left us,
01:15:02but it's a delight
01:15:03to have you back here today.
01:15:04Thank you, Senator.
01:15:05I remember when you were
01:15:06a member of Congress,
01:15:07you were one of the most
01:15:07articulate members.
01:15:09I had the pleasure
01:15:10of serving on the conference
01:15:12committee with you,
01:15:13and I knew you
01:15:13in other ways.
01:15:15Of course,
01:15:16I differ with you
01:15:17on this nomination,
01:15:18but I hope you're
01:15:19getting along nice
01:15:20in Texas
01:15:20and enjoying your work
01:15:22at the Leonard Johnson
01:15:22School of Government.
01:15:23I am.
01:15:24There's an old
01:15:25English expression
01:15:26that says,
01:15:27character brings forth
01:15:28character.
01:15:30You brought forth
01:15:31in this body
01:15:32when you were here
01:15:33and hopefully
01:15:34in this committee.
01:15:45There was a long time
01:15:47for me,
01:15:4815 years,
01:15:49with Barbara
01:15:49where we didn't know
01:15:51what was going on
01:15:51with her health.
01:15:54I never heard
01:15:55exactly what it was.
01:15:56We were just shocked
01:15:57when she had a cane
01:15:58and they were shocked
01:15:59more when she had
01:16:00her wheelchair.
01:16:02I think we all just
01:16:03hoped that there
01:16:04was nothing wrong.
01:16:08Barbara and Nancy
01:16:09were deeply devoted
01:16:11to each other.
01:16:14As Barbara needed
01:16:15more and more help
01:16:17physically,
01:16:18that was a test
01:16:19because any time
01:16:20a relationship changes
01:16:22from being
01:16:24partner's friends
01:16:25to caretaker,
01:16:26that was some rough years
01:16:29and all of us
01:16:30tried to help.
01:16:32I watched her
01:16:34becoming more
01:16:34and more disabled
01:16:35but it didn't affect
01:16:37her mind.
01:16:38She was still
01:16:39blowing and going
01:16:40and making speeches.
01:16:42The American dream
01:16:43is not dead.
01:16:45It is not dead.
01:16:49It is gasping
01:16:51for breath
01:16:52but it is not dead.
01:16:56The things that
01:16:57I was part of
01:16:58didn't change
01:16:59and not one time
01:17:02ever did I hear
01:17:03Barbara complain.
01:17:05there was no self-pity.
01:17:08Gary, if you play,
01:17:09I'll sing.
01:17:10Okay.
01:17:11Now, you know,
01:17:13if you go out
01:17:14someplace
01:17:15and you see
01:17:15your baby
01:17:16stripped down
01:17:17on a long,
01:17:17white table,
01:17:19real,
01:17:20cold,
01:17:21bare,
01:17:22the problem is
01:17:23he's dead.
01:17:28Let him go.
01:17:29Let him go.
01:17:30Let him go.
01:17:31Now, you know,
01:17:31Let him go.
01:17:34Let him go.
01:17:39In this church, this whole world,
01:17:48in the wild gallows, sweet as me.
01:18:02Barbara Jordan, the former congresswoman
01:18:04and memorable political orator,
01:18:06died today at the age of 59.
01:18:09Today, Texas lost a pioneer.
01:18:13I have this morning asked if the state flags be lowered
01:18:16to half-staff in memory of a great Texan.
01:18:20Life is not always fair.
01:18:24And the people who have the most to contribute,
01:18:29why, I don't know why, they are the ones we lose.
01:18:33My dear Barbara Jordan, if I were sitting on a porch,
01:18:39a cross from God, I would thank Him for sending you to us.
01:18:46Well, Nancy, the truth is I'd counted on Barbara preaching my funeral.
01:18:53She always could make things sound a lot better than they were.
01:19:00Last time I saw Barbara Jordan was when Liz Carpenter
01:19:03talked me into going to the University of Texas
01:19:06to give a speech on race relations
01:19:08on the day of the Million Man March.
01:19:13I was nervous enough as it was.
01:19:19And I walked out into that vast arena,
01:19:23and there were 17,000 people there.
01:19:26But I could only see one, Barbara Jordan, smiling at me.
01:19:34And there I was about to give a speech to her about race
01:19:40and the Constitution.
01:19:46It was the nearest experience on this earth
01:19:50to the pastors giving a sermon with God in the audience.
01:19:58When Barbara Jordan talked, we listened.
01:20:03She took to heart what her Grandpa Patton told her
01:20:05when she was a little girl.
01:20:07You just trot your own horse
01:20:09and don't get into the same rut as everyone else.
01:20:13Well, she sure trotted her own horse,
01:20:17and she made her own path wide and deep.
01:20:31Barbara's death and her wishes for her death
01:20:34came up fairly often
01:20:35because she wanted everyone to understand
01:20:39that she wanted to be buried
01:20:41on the highest hill in the State Cemetery
01:20:45next to Stephen F. Austin, who's the father of Texas.
01:20:49So where's Barbara Jordan buried?
01:20:52On top of the highest hill on the corner of Stephen F. Austin.
01:20:57And there's only one word on the backside of that gravestone.
01:21:04She wanted to be remembered as a teacher.
01:21:12I'm a patriot, and I don't feel that I need to apologize for that.
01:21:16I'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,
01:21:28I 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.
01:21:40The suicide temple nicely
01:21:45in life.
01:21:54I love the otherans.
01:21:57I love a billionaire sister.
01:22:03Growing up in Houston, Texas, I feel like I've always known the name.
01:22:09i found more about her once i joined the texas southern university debate team her voice the
01:22:15way she speak her speeches are something you can get drawn into it's kind of like hearing the voice
01:22:23of god speaking earlier today we heard the beginning of the preamble to the constitution
01:22:30of the united states we the people we the people we the people it's a very eloquent beginning
01:22:37but when that document was completed on the 17th of september in 1787 i was not included in that we
01:22:45the people i felt somehow for many years that george washington and alexander hamilton had just
01:22:54left me out by mistake but through the process of amendment interpretation and court decision
01:23:03i have finally i have finally i have finally been included in we the people the people today
01:23:10i am an inquisitor today i am an inquisitor today i'm an inquisitor today today today today i am an
01:23:48inquisitor
01:23:50in the texas capital complex to bear the name of a black woman barbara jordan
01:23:58we rise above the sorrows we find a way to shine in the dark with a heartbeat of tomorrow
01:24:12the most important to hear the world and my death is no or no mistake in our dignity we know
01:24:17who we are
01:24:19our voices echo like the nerve as we break the chains you can hurt us and you know and i'm
01:24:28used to the pain
01:24:29And when we stand, we're unstoppable.
01:24:35When we stand, nothing's impossible.
01:24:40When we stand, strengthen the present the fight.
01:24:46Side by side, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand.
01:24:50When we stand, songs of freedom we're singing.
01:24:59Words that will show us the way back home.
01:25:05And when it's us, we believe it.
01:25:09No matter what they say, you will never walk alone.
01:25:15Voices echo like thunder as we break the chains.
01:25:21Can't hurt us anymore.
01:25:23We've gotten used to the pain.
01:25:25And when we stand, we're unstoppable.
01:25:31When we stand, nothing's impossible.
01:25:36When we stand, strengthen numbers amplified.
01:25:41Side by side, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand.
01:25:46When we stand, when we stand, there's no mountain we can't find.
01:25:53Stand, as long as we stay together, we'll be fine.
01:25:58Stand, we can make the world a better place.
01:26:04Let nothing and nobody come in between us.
01:26:09Stand up till they see us
01:26:11We stand
01:26:13We're what's time before
01:26:15We stand
01:26:18We can do the impossible
01:26:20We stand
01:26:23Straighten numbers
01:26:25That's where we're in the fight
01:26:27Side by side
01:26:28Shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand
01:26:31When we
01:26:33We stand
01:26:35We get it
01:26:37When we win, we stand
01:26:39When we
01:26:40When we
01:26:41When we
01:26:42When we
01:26:43When we
01:26:44Stand
01:26:45We're gonna stand up
01:26:48We can make it all better
01:26:51As long as we stand together
01:26:53When we stand
01:26:56We're what's time before
01:26:59Tell me who's gonna stand
01:27:01Shoulder to shoulder to shoulder
01:27:02When we stand
01:27:11We're what's time before
01:27:12We're what's time before
01:27:12We're what's time before
01:27:25We're what's time before
01:27:26We're what's time before
01:27:26We're what's time before
01:27:26We're what's time before
01:27:26We're what's time before
01:27:33We're what's time before
01:27:35You
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