Talk:Barbara Jordan

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Barbara Charline Jordan (February 21, 1936 – January 17, 1996) was an American politician from Texas. She served as a member of Congress from 1973 to 1979.

Jordan was born in Houston, Texas. She graduated magna cum laude from Texas Southern University in 1956 and from Boston University Law School in 1959. She passed the Bar Exams in Massachusetts and Texas before returning to Houston to open a law practice.

Active in the Kennedy-Johnson presidential campaign of 1960, Jordan wanted to be a part of the change. She unsuccessfully ran for the Texas House of Representatives in 1962 and 1964. Her persistence won her a seat in the Texas Senate in 1966, becoming the first African American state senator since 1883 and the first black woman to serve in that body. Reelected to a full term in the Texas Senate in 1968, she served until 1972, when she made a successful bid to represent Texas's Eighteenth Congressional District in the U.S. House, becoming the first black woman from a Southern state to serve in the House. She was reelected in 1974 and 1976. She received extensive support from President Lyndon Johnson, who helped her secure a position on the House Judiciary Committee.

In 1973, Jordan began to suffer from multiple sclerosis which eventually confined her to a wheelchair. In 1974, she made a well-known speech before the House Judiciary Committee supporting the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. She gave a speech at the 1976 Democratic National Convention that is considered by many historians to have been the best convention keynote speech in modern history. Because of her illness, Jordan retired from politics in 1979 and became a professor at the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She again was a keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 1992.

Jordan kept her health and her lesbianism out of the press. Nancy Earl, her life partner for over twenty years, was her caregiver during her final illness and executor of her estate.

Jordan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. It was only one of many honors given her, including election into both the Texas and National Women's Hall of Fame. In 1995, Jordan chaired a congressional commission that advocated increased restriction of immigration and increased penalties on employers that violated US immigration regulations. She was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. She was the first black woman interred there

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[edit] Prodecessors

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Scott Tillinghast Houston TX --208.100.206.195 19:33, 27 June 2006 (UTC)She really did not have predecessors for state Senate or U. S. House, because both the districts were new. Bill Moore was a state sentor from College Station. Robert Price was a Congressman from the Texas Panhandle. From Texas Almanac, appropriate editions.

Since the districts, did indeed exist, even if in other parts of the state, the practice is to list the previous incumbent as her predecessor. This is especially so in regard to Congress, since there is no local residency requirement for running for Congress.Argos'Dad 15:27, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

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[edit] Judiciary Committee speech

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The article says that Jordan's speech in support of impeachment came after she was re-elected in 1974. But that election took place three months after Nixon resigned. It seems likely therefore that the speech took place before her re-election. I don't know. Could someone check into it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lkunz (talk • contribs) 9 November 2006.

It's not wrong, just badly worded. It means after reelection in 1972 she made a speech in 1974. It's trying to squeeze an event into a phrase in another sentence, and it created mush. I'll fix it some way. -- Randall Bart 20:46, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
Oh wait. You're right, that's wrong.-- Randall Bart 21:06, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

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[edit] Sexual orientation

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She's listed under the category of Lesbian politicians, yet there is no mention of her sexual orientation in her biography. If she is indeed a lesbian, it should be noted in her biography, with footnoted reference(s) documenting this. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.86.240.239 (talk) 02:00, 10 February 2007 (UTC).

We should get it into the article; I'll find a citation. - Jmabel | Talk 19:07, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

[[Image:CHRIS BVROWN IN THE HOUSE. 106 A PARK BET]]

The issue of Barbara Jordan being a Lesbian has never been proved beyond speculation, such as the article cited in this article. Jordan's supposed "lover" denied it repeatedly after her death. It has never even been mentioned in academic articles or biographies. It's just speculation. I think it should be removed. Mvblair 03:50, 3 September 2007 (UTC) (UTC)
Now I just read the reference for the lesbian part. Even the referenced link says that her sexual orientation is just a rumor! After seeing this and not vieweing any objections to me comments of September 3rd, I'm removing this paragraph. Jordan never made any comments about sexual orientation during her career. An encyclopedia is no place for rumor and conjecture. Mvblair 12:41, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
There are other sources as well, including those that discuss why she didn't reveal her orientation during her life. I've reinstated the material and added another source. ·:· Will Beback ·:· 17:06, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
The Houston Chronicle obit said: "In Austin, she lived with her longtime companion, Nancy Earl." (Jan 18, 1996) A subsquent article in Jet shows that Jordan willed her half interest in the house to Earl. A 1997 biography says:
  • Neither of them realized at the time that their meeting would escalate into a relationship that would last almost twenty years," writes Teutsch in his reverent if perhaps overly imaginative biography of celebrated African-American politician Jordan, who died in 1996, and her life partner. "As George Gershwin wrote in one of his immortal songs, `It's very clear, our love is here to stay.' Which is how it became with Barbara and Nancy Earl." (Barbara Jordan: The Biography (Austin Teutsch, Golden Touch Press, 1997)
So I think there's sufficient evidence of her relationship with another woman. ·:· Will Beback ·:· 17:19, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes, there is sufficient evidence of her relationship with another woman. Thanks for adding that extra source, Will. It seems credible because the author is affiliated with a university, but I still think some better sources are needed. The problem is that all the sources that are cited are speculative themselves. None of them give quotes from Earl or Jordan. They simply say "they lived together for a long time and didn't talk about their private life, so they were lesbians." I just don't think there is evidence that she was a lesbian. Source 4 is also undefined about the issue, which reviews "American Hero" and "Biography." The author of "American Hero" says that Jordan's only relationship was "with herself and God." Unless someone finds a quote by Jordan or Earl, it is just conjecture that Jordan was a lesbian, no matter what it looked like. Will, would you object if I added that to the paragraph? Perhaps something along the lines of...It is speculated that Jordan was a lesbian with a longtime companion of more than 20 years, Nancy Earl. Jordan never spoke publically about her private, but several sources mention her relationship with Earl.[3][4] After Jordan's initial unsuccessful statewide races, advisers warned her to become more discreet and not bring any female companions on the campaign trail.[1][5]" Also, could someone provide me with a copy of that article in "The Advocate?" It seems like we should also modify that language. Mvblair 18:30, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Here are some additional sources, including some more reviews of Roger's bio. I don't have immediate access to the full text of the Advocate piece (the full text archive for it starts the following year) but here's the abstract and some commentary about it:

  • "Barbara Jordan: The other life". Moss, J Jennings. The Advocate. Los Angeles: Mar 5, 1996. , Iss. 702; pg. 38
  • Abstract (Summary) Congresswoman Barbara Jordan did not address the fact that she was a lesbian during her life. Friends of Jordan claim that she did not want to be pigeonholed and did not have much interest in being a symbol.
  • Image of the cover featuring Jordan: [1]
  • "The Advocate Polls: How readers felt about ..." The Advocate. Los Angeles: Jan 21, 1997. , Iss. 724/725; pg. 18
  • Advocate readers took a mostly conservative stand on the issues surrounding the closet, one sympathetic to the sense of privacy and the fear of consequences that still keep many gay men and lesbians from revealing their sexual orientation publicly. Following our story on the revered late congresswoman Barbara Jordan, most readers said they understood why she chose not to come out.
  • "Closet ain't nothin' but a dark and private place for ...?" Clayton, Joana. Art Journal. New York: Winter 1996. Vol. 55, Iss. 4; pg. 51, 4 pgs
  • The privileged definition of closet does not consider that many African American women heal ourselves in our closets. In our closets, we create different realities, collect tools and strategies for healing the deep and painful wounds of our multiple oppressions, discover a voice and language that is our life, and unearth and affirm our authentic selves. The story I tell here of Bentley should resonate for anyone picking up a copy of the March 5, 1995, Advocate with its cover story bashing Barbara Jordan. ...Jordan, it seems, cannot meet the Advocate's privileged standards of gay purity. The arrogance of largely white and largely male organizations in taking upon themselves the task of determining the boundaries of the closet-who should be in and out, who should be respected and who should not-is widely displayed here. The issue is Barbara Jordan's so-called other life as a lesbian. The tone is one of absolute disrespect for Jordan as she is berated for not coming out as a national standardbearer for gay rights. The Advocate, using advanced strategies of its own carefully closeted (disguised) racism, obtains a quote from an Austin gay journalist of color, Juan Paloma, who states (she reads from the Advocate), "If anybody had the luxury to say, `By Golly, I'm a lesbian and this is the woman I love,' it was Barbara Jordan. She could have done it, and her stature would not have been diminished one bit." Here the white-run Advocate uses a man of color to denounce Jordan. I wonder, by golly, if his opinion would have been so eagerly sought on other issues. Paloma, like the Advocate, is only concerned with how others perceive Jordan and neither trusts nor respects her own sense of what she needed to survive and thrive. And who is Paloma or the Advocate to assure any African American woman about the stability of her stature in this misogynist, racist world: tell that to Lani Guiner, Anita Hill, and Jocelyn Elders! The Advocate deceptively describes Jordan as a "closeted lesbian who chose not to come out during her lifetime." But of course, Jordan was out to her network-to her family, to a warm and wonderful group of friends, political allies, and most anybody who came in contact with her. She thrived in the sanctity of this sanctuary/closet she had created. It was because she had this privacy, this sanctuary, that she was able to become a national leader and woman of such estimable accomplishment. Jordan herself said that she had no interest in being a symbol. She knew that symbolization is itself a form of objectification, where one can be commodified, controled, manipulated, and scapegoated. The Advocate bashes Jordan in this piece, rebuking her for not exposing herself to their standards of pornographic scrutiny/voyeurism. It then attempts to turn her into a symbol . . . of its contempt! Unbelievably, the end of the article includes a sidebar asking readers to take part in a survey asking if, for one, they (she reads from the Advocate) "respect her less now." It is the Advocate that deserves our disrespect. (She discards the Advocate.) In conclusion, when I say closet, I mean a sanctuary and place of refuge. I tell this story to point to the continuing racist oppression that threatens the creative realizations of African American lesbians. Closets are dark and private places. Respect their sanctity.
  • "Barbara Jordan: 'The First African-American Woman everything'" Westside Gazette. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.: Mar 24, 2004. pg. 2D
  • A Very Significant Other
  • Barbara Jordan lived with Nancy Earl in their home in Texas. The two met on a camping trip in the 1960s and lived together for two decades. In 1976, they built a house in Austin. There is no record of Jordan ever being asked about her sexual orientation, but early in her career she was warned by campaign managers to avoid being photographed with her female companion. This was before she met Earl...It was Earl who saved her life, resuscitating her and calling for help. Earl continued tending to Jordan's daily needs through her battles with MS and leukemia for the remainder of her life. Nancy Earl - long time companion, co-owner of their home, executor of her estate, primary care giver, and life-saver - is often omitted from or trivialized in biographies of Barbara Jordan.
  • "Belle Moskowitz: Feminine Politics and the Exercise of Power in the Age of Alfred E. Smith / No Place for a Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith / Barbara Jordan: American Hero" Kim Nielsen. NWSA Journal. Bloomington: Fall 2001. Vol. 13, Iss. 3; pg. 203, 5 pgs
  • In Rogers's biography, Jordan's private life is more elusive, made so by the efforts of Jordan's and Rogers's accommodation. Jordan shared a home for several decades with Nancy Earl, a white woman who worked at the University of Texas. Rogers refuses to speculate on the nature of this relationship, a weakness of the book, but makes it clear that Jordan had a small but intense circle of friends who supported her throughout her life.
  • "Barbara Jordan // Texas Democrat truly earned the praise", Holly E. Stepp. The Patriot - News. Harrisburg, Pa.: Feb 15, 1999. pg. D.03
  • Rogers goes into detail about Jordan's battle with multiple sclerosis, which she kept hidden from the public, but there's precious little about her adult private life. Jordan, who never married but had a longtime relationship with friend Nancy Earl, was appalled by the post-Watergate media coverage of politicians' private lives and refused to comment on her own. Rogers' failure to mention the relationship in more than passing is an unfortunate but perhaps fitting tribute to the public life for which Jordan is most remembered.
  • "Ex-colleague recounts Barbara Jordan's life" ELIZABETH BENNETT. Houston Chronicle. Houston, Tex.: Dec 20, 1998. pg. 18
  • What Rogers doesn't clarify is Jordan's relationship with Earl, her longtime Austin friend and housemate - and a white woman. In light of ongoing speculation about Jordan's sexuality while she was alive - she never married and never was known to date - Rogers' failure to address such a longtime relationship is a glaring omission in an otherwise impressive biography.

There are also numerous recent sources which list the subject as a lesbian, taking the assertion as a given. In my searches I haven't seen a single reference which disputes the relationship between Earl and Jordan, or that asserts it was platonic. I think that the fact has been well-established. For us to leave out all reference to her relationship to Earl would be a "glaring omission". ·:· Will Beback ·:· 19:28, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for taking the time to post those sources. I appreciate it. It's good to see someone else interested in Jordan's career. I agree that her relationship with Earl should be mentioned (although like Rogers, I'm always iffy about getting into private lives). I just don't know what that relationship was...I lived for 25 years with my Dad, but that didn't make us lovers.
Here's the thing that doesn't sit well with me: all of these sources (with the exception of Rogers' book -- a good read) basically say "Jordan was a lesbian, but she never talked about it." They all cite the same two arguments: 1) Jordan lived with Earl, and 2) Jordan was reportedly told not to travel with women on the campaign trail. To me, that doesn't make someone a lesbian. And we don't know the original source for the campaign trail thing.
As for sources that disagree with, well one source that you quoted, Rogers, does say that talk about her homosexuality is only speculation. So I think that should be included. The Rogers biography is the one generally read in African American studies.
The fact that we know is Jordan had a some type of relationship with Earl. Beyond that, there is no proof, only speculation. --Matt Mvblair 21:43, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
I think we can safely assume it was a lesbian relationship. She obviously preferred spending her life with Earl rather than a man. Another source to use is:
Jordan had never publicly acknowledged her lesbianism, but friends described her as "straightforward about [it] in private." - Jordan, Barbara (2004) glbtq.com
While glbtq.com doesn't say where that quote comes from, it cites it's sources for that article. There's something there for sure - they're very good about not using "speculation" without saying that's what it is. BTW, I'm putting the LGBT banner back. -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 05:55, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for replying, Satyr. I don't think I'm making my point very well.
Now, I'm not saying that anybody here is like Fox News or Rush Limbaugh, but here is what Rush and Sean Hannity do: "even Clinton's friends say he excepted money from an overseas company and knew that company was involved in drug deals." Then Frank Barnes goes and writes "Clinton accepted money from a company known for dealing drugs, according to Clinton's own associates" and then it becomes a "legitimate" fact accepted in the media and so forth.
All of these sources are second and third hand. What friends said that Jordan was gay? What advisers told her not to bring female friends on the campaign trail (which is just an implication)?
Here is a good compromise, I think. Let's change the language in the paragraph to note that only second-hand sources and the fact that she lived with Earl suggest that she is a lesbian. Rogers even says that there is not enough evidence of her private life to say she was a lesbian.
Something like that? Mvblair 01:39, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

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[edit] Religion

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Man, I'm doing a lot of talking about Jordan today! I added in her infobox that she was a Baptist. I'd like to find an appropriate place to discuss Good Hope Baptist Church, which was and is (I think) a fairly liberal church in Austin. Any suggestions? Perhaps under personal life? Mvblair 18:48, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

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[edit] Death

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The only place her death is mentioned at all is in the Awards section -- I almost didn't spot it when I skimmed the article. More importantly, the article says nothing about the cause of death, which, IIRC, was related to her decline in health due to multiple sclerosis. But somebody more certain of the facts needs to add a line or two about this subject -- at the end of the Biography section. Thanks in advance! Cgingold (talk) 11:28, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

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[edit] The End

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