Day# 529

Hello!

All through the auditorium, the same question ran, "Who is she?"

"She's a young lawyer from Houston who recently joined us... just helping out with President Kennedy's campaign. She stuffs and sends out envelopes. We definitely need to bring her up to the front offices and put her to work! Did you hear that speech?"

"Stuffing envelopes! Why is she just stuffing envelopes?"

"I don't know, but that will change after tonight!"

This true scenario defined her entrance in the U.S. political arena. However, I wanted to know more.

I heard comments about her several times during the week of the 2009 U.S. Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama. Most comments centered on her eloquent speeches as the 1976 and 1992 keynote speaker at the Democratic Convention. It was said on numerous occasions that her speech had not been bettered until Barack Obama's democratic speech in 2004.

I heard her referred to by the likes of former Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. My curiosity peaked as I began searching for information on her life.

Who was this Texas and National Women's Hall of Famer? There is a sculpture on the University of Texas campus in her honor and she was only the second woman to receive the distinguished United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award.

Seems the rest of the world knew this articulate, powerful woman, but somehow I had missed her. A quick hit on “Google” and soon I had documents abounding about Senator Barbara Jordan.

Barbara, born in 1936 to a Baptist preacher father and domestic worker mom, had many dreams while growing up in the south Texas during the 1940s and 1950s. Her opponents wanted her to work within the segregated era in which she lived. But she saw something more.

Barbara knew her heart well; her visions and goals were for all the people but especially the African American people. With dignity, compassion and integrity, Barbara rose to be the first African American to change the environment of the Texas legislature.

She was the first African American in Texas state legislature since 1883.

1. In 1966, she was the first African American woman to serve in the Texas Senate.
2. In 1967, she was the first African American elected official to preside over the Texas Senate.
3. Then she became the first African American state senator to chair a major committee: the Labor and Management Relations
4. She also was the first freshman senator ever named to the Texas Legislative Council.
5. She was the first African American selected to keynote a major political convention.

Throughout her many accomplishments, Barbara lived with a secret. She first hid from the media, the press, and her colleagues her battle with multiple sclerosis, and then leukemia. She wanted to be taken seriously for her platforms, ideals and abilities. She wanted nothing to taint her reputation within the public's eye or politics.

She must have been one amazingly strong, determined woman. Few knew of her disease and when former American President Bill Clinton wanted her to fill his first Supreme Court vacancy she was unable to accept due to her health.

Barbara received numerous recognitions, honors and awards as she paved the way for generations of women who will follow. Most of the women in the legal and political fields today, especially minority women, owe a huge debt to the greatness of Barbara Jordan.

A true hero, she worked her way from her beloved ghetto community to the White House. She never once abandoned, forgot, nor lost her roots. She often sponsored bills advocating change in favor of minorities and the underprivileged.

In death, Barbara Jordan achieved one last "first" as the first African-American buried at the State Cemetery in Austin. Her grave lies only a short distance from the grave of Stephen F. Austin, the father of Texas.

In a fitting memorial after her death it was said that...

"...If Barbara Jordan is remembered for just one thing, it will be the power of her words. Her message united people from vastly different walks of life, bringing them together to stand as one and nod their heads in unison and say, ‘Yes, each one of us can make a difference, and together we can make this nation stronger.'"

Sounds like what we here at SBIY believe, doesn’t it? Each of us makes a difference and then together we make the world stronger!

Remember Barbara, who started at the bottom and never quit pursuing her vision of a tolerant, unprejudiced, and equitable society for all persons.

Today, live your life as if all your dreams are reality and you will find yourself making a difference everywhere you go!

Today, live your life knowing that…

And I do, too!
Suess Karlsson

P.S. If you need to be reminded today just how very special you are go to A Movie Just For You!

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