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What the people want is very simple.

They want an America

as good as its promise.

When you were with Barbara,

you could never quite shake the feeling

that you were in the presence of somebody

that was truly great.

Barbara Jordan blazed a trail.

She was the first black woman to serve

in the Texas State Senate.

The first black woman elected to Congress

from the deep South.

Barbara Jordan was a champion of our freedom,

our Constitution, and our laws.

She could walk into all white male spaces

and be respected.

She reached into the heart of people

whose hearts didn't want to be reached into.

She was someone who was respected

across party lines.

When Barbara Jordan spoke, you just sat up and listened.

We are trying to spark

the consciousness in depth of everybody in this country

and we feel that we have the capacity to do it.

Barbara Jordan's got the voice of God.

When people are eroding the foundation

of the country, don't be silent.

Don't be quiet.

I see the conviction and honesty that she had,

something that is absent from politics today.

I think this mood that we're in now is cyclical.

I think people are basically good,

and honest, and that they care,

and I think we will return to that posture.

She carried the fire.

She carried the flame at a very critical time

in American history.

Today I am an inquisitor.

My faith in the Constitution is whole,

it is complete, it is total.

And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator

to the diminution, the subversion,

the destruction of the Constitution.

It would be difficult to understand and recognize

from where Barbara Jordan came to what she became.

It's a great story.

It's a great American story.

You have the freedom to choose

the kind of future you want.

You're denied the luxury of opting out.

You can't opt out.

You're already in.

How can you opt out where you are?

You are involved in life.

You make the choice to lead.

But if you choose to lead,

you must be sure you have the capability,

the capacity, the competence to do the job.

Myself and my two sisters grew up

in the Fifth Ward of Houston.

We didn't know that we were in

a deprived sector of the city.

When everybody's poor, you don't ever think

about poverty.

We thought we'd just play in our gravel streets

and eat the dust, which the cars would stir up.

We didn't worry about it too much.

I don't know...

Barbara had a beautiful alto voice.

We started singing together at the church

to where we belong,

at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church.

And we even gave them little mini recitals.

Grandpa Patton showed favoritism to Barbara

when we would go sometimes back to evening church,

she would stay there with him.

Grandpa Patton was a junk man.

We would weigh that paper and weigh the rags,

hitch up his mules, and go sell them.

I say we, because I was my Grandpa Patton's

partner in business.

And we had more money than anybody we encountered.

My father wanted excellence in his children.

I was very proud of a report card.

I had five As and one B.

My father, he looked at it and then with a scowl,

"Why do you have this B?"

So I was reverent toward him,

he taught me to love,

to do the best that I could do.

I didn't want to be run of the mill.

I don't want to be just same old, same old.

I want to be a little bit different

and uh, superior to tell truth.

Barbara and I were students

together in high school and we went on

to Texas Southern University together.

We were partners as members

of the Texas Southern University debate team

under the direction of Dr. Thomas Freeman.

Dr. Thomas Freeman was a well-known

renowned debate coach

and he taught Martin Luther King

and some others.

Under him, she learned about cadence

and the importance of research,

of enunciation, pacing.

Everybody loved Dr. Freeman.

All of us on the debate team did as much as we could

to please him.

He told me a good speaker accomplishes three things.

You make people laugh,

you make people cry, and you make sense.

And if you can only do one,

make sense and sit your boring self down.

We would drive into a city.

The signs are up.

White, colored.

Thomas Freeman would refuse to go in the back door.

He said, "We'll get a sandwich and eat it

by the side of the road

before I take you through a back door."

That certainly made an impression on me.

The final event for Barbara and me

was a debate against a team from Harvard University,

something akin to being in the World Series, I guess.

It was a first.

A black university in the South,

as deep in the heart of Dixie as you could get,

with a all-black debate team, against Harvard University.

The judges of the debate said it ended in a tie.

People were shocked.

Harvard is supposed to be so high, and sharp,

and smart that debating a little group like TSU

to call it a tie, we must have won.

It just really told us personally

that we could leave Texas Southern University

and go on to do anything that we wanted to do.

I was a sophomore at Texas Southern University.

I can remember reading this big headline,

"Segregation Ends."

And I said, "Ha, dog."

In my naiveté, I thought tomorrow morning

it was going to happen.

When I say, it was a miracle for her

to come out of the 5th ward of that era.

I mean, you were not permitted to leave 5th ward.

We are right in the shadow of Downtown Houston.

But you couldn't go Downtown Houston.

Before I went to law school,

my world had been all black.

And then I arrive to attend law school

at Boston University.

In our entering class, there were about 300 people.

Of the 300, there were three or four blacks.

I knew that if I worked harder

and studied longer, I'd survive it.

But one thing I discovered by observing

is that young white people love to stop

whatever they're doing and have a cup of coffee.

I would just go around and say,

"You need to take a break.

Let's have a cup of coffee."

That always worked.

I formed many friendships over a cup of coffee.

The first thing I did when I got my law degree

was to take the red ribbon off

and make sure that my name was on it.

And then I cried.

Because of what had gone into it.

I had the notion that I'd like to do something

to affect the way masses of people live.

I became very interested in politics working first

in the Kennedy-Johnson campaign.

Let us move for the unified goal

of an America where every man

will be free to live and be whatever he desires to be.

She started speaking at some events

and began to come to public attention.

The Democrats around there said,

"You ought to run

for the Texas House of Representatives."

They saw Barbara as a person

around whom the black community

could coalesce.

I ran twice for the Texas legislation

and was defeated.

Why could I not win?

It was a time when cities like Houston

were gerrymandered in a different way

because they stacked the deck.

People had to run into these countrywide district,

so that meant that in Houston, in Austin, Dallas,

black voters never could get a majority of anything.

The districts were discriminatory

in how their lines were outlined,

in order to divide the black voting black.

She got more votes not to be elected

to the Texas House than I got to be elected

to the Texas Senate.

The disappointment was especially bitter,

because I was playing by the rules,

but the rules were not fair.

Then the Supreme Court established the principle

of one person, one vote.

That opened up the door for districts

to be redrawn in ways where black people

could represent black people.

The Texas legislature was required

to reapportion itself.

So in 1966, I ran again, this time in one of those

newly-created state senatorial districts.

I won.

And my political career got started.

It speaks to why it is important

that we have people who accurately interpret

these constitutional amendments.

This is how we ended up with seats where black folk

could have a voice.

At that particular time,

black people only could be on the Capitol ground

if you were cutting the grass, polishing the statues

or cleaning the building.

On her first day, she was like an unknown person

from outer space coming into the Texas Senate.

They didn't even have a restroom which she could use

and they had to build a bathroom specifically

for her to use.

The good thing about that is they let her design it.

Everybody's going down to see what she looks like

to see someone come back to the Senate

after reconstruction,

an African American and a woman.

It made black people feel like they had a say

in help to shape their government.

Barbara Jordan carried with her at all times,

the Constitution

and a photo of her grandfather.

My grandpa was always saying

that you couldn't trust the world out there,

so you had to figure things out for yourself,

but you had to love humanity even if you couldn't trust it.

Barbara Jordan came along in a era

in which you had a very conservative

group of men who ran the Texas Senate.

Many of the older white men

who were in that had probably never had

any kind of relationship with a black woman

unless she was a maid in his house.

I was a speaker of the house

and I went over to the Senate to see the Senate sworn in.

There were a lot of older men that had reservations

about what kind of senator, uh, Barbara's gonna be.

The Senate would go on hunts.

There were some reservations at first on part

of the senators.

What are we gonna ask Barbara?

We're all men.

No one really hunted, they played cards,

and drank whiskey, and sang songs.

Could Barbara fit in?

We asked Barbara to go and not only did she fit in,

she brought her guitar.

She was one of the first ones down around the fire

and had a glass of scotch in her hand

and she was one of the last ones to go to bed.

Barbara Jordan was really a good old boy

and everybody realized that.

She walked in with a certain level

of credentials, and she was able to demand

a level of respect that they probably

didn't even know that they would be giving

to a Black woman.

Once I cut through the maleness

of the Texas State Senate and their view

that I was going to be a disruptive force

rather than a helping force, I enjoyed being in the Senate.

The Texas Senate, you have to persuade people.

So even if you shoot down that argument and debate,

you got to do it in such a way

you don't anger 'em, because you may need

their vote 10 minutes later.

Barbara learned a whole lot

about political power.

Barbara did some things that some

of her liberal friends would have been disappointed

if they'd had known that she did that.

We didn't agree politically

on practically anything,

but I got along with them

and formed genuine friendships.

We sat by each other over and over.

We began to talk about ourselves,

tell our history and became close,

close friends, almost brother and sister.

At the time, there was a really vibrant

civil rights and black power movement going on.

I tell you, I got to change my life,

because I'm choking to death.

The party is one with the people,

because we struggle with all oppressed people.

We struggle against the international bourgeoisie.

I went down the 31st of August

to try to register.

They wasn't ready for that in Mississippi.

They shot in the house 15 times thinking

that I was there.

You, my friends, can help somehow tear down

these walls that divides people

into groups and separates them.

The people of this country, I ask you,

what about the basic and fundamental problem

of human understanding, of a human care

for human beings?

There was an upswing of women

being energized politically.

Most of the more progressive issues

that Barbara Jordan wanted to pass were not going to pass

the Texas Senate.

It's not an anti-male

chauvinistic movement.

And I know, men, that there are some of you

who remain reluctant to embrace

the cause of the equality of women.

We want to help you. You need help.

In Texas, it was not until '73

that a woman was able to have a credit card

in her name or buy property.

Barbara wanted the Equal Rights

Constitutional Amendment for women

to pass and wanted Texas to be one of the early states

to do it.

She was able to reach out to people

on all sides and pull them together.

She got to be the author of the Equal Rights

Constitutional Amendment for women,

one of the first legislative branches

of any state that passed in the United States.

Keep in mind that in the days

when she grew up, the goal for girls at the time

was to find a marriage as soon as possible

and to be rescued from your situation as a woman.

And that meant that, you know, boys had to like you.

And if they didn't, well, gee, I mean,

what was wrong with you and what was going

to happen to you?

One thing I learned early on

was that you can't work all the time.

You need people around you who don't care

about titles or status.

One night after wrapping up a long day,

some friends invited me out.

That's where I met Nancy Earl.

She worked at the university, and from the moment

we started talking, it felt easy.

We played music, sang together,

and just enjoyed the night.

Nancy had this way of making people feel at ease.

I remember thinking,

"This is something I'd love to do again."

She enjoyed being with Nancy Earl.

She finally felt she could relax

and be herself.

SCR number--

- 14. - 14.

All those in favor of adoption of the resolution, vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, vote no.

Ayes have it.

Resolution is adopted.

Barbara was an independent person

who had an agenda to represent her district.

Our Urban Affairs Committee devoted specifically

and entirely to the solutions of problems of the cities.

I'm frankly very disappointed in the work

of the Constitutional Commission.

You don't have any daycare center here?

So if you can find someone who can take care

of the two youngest children...

You would be able to work?

And she had agenda way beyond

the borders of Texas.

She wanted to go to Washington.

A group of us found the empty building,

and we set up the headquarters.

We literally would stuff envelopes

and lick stamps.

We spent a lot of time in the headquarters,

helping in whatever way we could

to boost the campaign for her.

Her main opponent in the Democratic primary

was Curtis Graves.

If you hear candidates now

talking about law and order,

they don't mean the kind of law and order that we mean.

We mean law that isn't necessarily looking

for order as an end result, but rather law

which is looking for justice as an end result.

I represent the real Democrats of Texas,

who have always supported the traditional philosophy

of liberalism.

Curtis Graves had been a bomb-throwing,

very progressive, outspoken member of the House.

And so he had a lot of links out there

in the black community.

I served in the Texas legislature

at the same time that Barbara Jordan did.

I guess she chose not to be affiliated

with the causes that I was involved in,

because they were a little too liberal

for her politics.

Barbara Jordan looked really good

in terms of this being her time.

He had also still put in the time.

He was a firebrand who liked

to be confrontational.

He tried to make it look like Barbara Jordan

was kowtowing to the old white guys.

And well, he started circulating rumors

that Barbara was gay.

Curtis Graves is a light-light complexion

of African American guy running against

a dark complexion woman.

The press seldom presented me

in a favorable light.

The world had decided

that we were all Negro,

but some of us were more Negro than others.

You went further, you got the awards

if you were not Black-Black with kinky hair.

Black was bad. You didn't want to be Black.

Everything is on the table

when you're out there running for public office.

It is a requirement of the person

who puts themselves out there.

You're going to feel that kind of pain

that comes from that kind of scrutiny.

And if you don't want that kind of scrutiny,

don't seek the office.

By that time, Barbara Jordan was able

to have the relationships with both the black community

and the union community, which crossed racial lines.

I was trying to get the hard-nosed,

crusty business establishment in the city of Houston

to come to the fundraising rally for me

and endorse my candidacy for Congress.

Well, they said we might come. We, I guess.

But then the word got out. Lyndon Johnson is coming.

Lyndon Johnson came to the first reception

that we had at the Rice Hotel in Houston

when Barbara Jordan was gonna run for Congress.

And of course, that guaranteed a success

of the rally.

And anybody who thought they were somebody

came to the Rice Hotel.

And of course, she adored him for that.

Lyndon Johnson held my hand in both of his

as only he could do and said,

"If ever you need anything from me, just call."

He looked at her as the future

of the new South.

We gave you Lyndon Johnson

and now we're giving you Barbara Jordan.

He saw and heard the potential

and that was a friendship that lasted until Johnson died.

That picture was on the front page

of the newspapers throughout Texas.

Curtis Graves just didn't have what Barbara Jordan had.

Once she was elected,

she moved away from the liberal wing

and into the Lyndon Johnson wing of the party

by doing their bidding in many cases.

And that may have been a wise decision.

It eventually got her elected to the Congress

of the United States.

But I promised you that you would have

a clear, sound, effective, clarion voice on the floor

of United States House of Representatives

if you elected me and I guarantee you,

you have that.

I would only hope

that in these next four years,

we can so conduct ourselves in this country

that years from now, people will look back

to the generation of the 1970s.

And they will say, "God bless America."

Nancy came to Washington with Barbara.

When you look back, yes, it's easy to see

that they were a couple.

They shared a house together, they shared a life together,

and publicly that was all there was to it.

Nancy cared for Barbara Jordan,

respected her, gave her her space.

Nancy understood that Barbara Jordan's

love and life was politics.

The civil rights movement is still alive

and well.

Its methodology has perhaps changed.

The political arena, that's where

the black radicals have gone.

The Congressional Black Caucus started in 1971.

Black people are in that space in a way that we never

have been before.

The difference in state and federal,

there's a lot more eyes on you.

And cameras rolling.

You've made history in the Texas Senate

and now being the first black woman elected

to the US Congress from the South,

How do you feel about all this?

Well, I'm often asked whether I feel historical

and I-- I really don't.

Barbara Jordan wanted to be on

the House Judiciary Committee.

There were very few women, but there we were together.

It was a hard slog.

You get there and all of a sudden,

you're voting on agricultural appropriations.

Well, I'm from Brooklyn, I don't know too much

about farming.

But of course, what I didn't know

was that when impeachments come up,

the House Judiciary Committee plays the key role.

The Democratic National Committee

is trying to solve a spy mystery.

Five intruders were captured by police

inside the offices of the committee in Washington.

The five men carried cameras and apparently, had found

an electronic bug.

Mr. Nixon says empathetically

that the White House is in no way involved

in the burglary and mugging of the Democratic headquarters.

You had this slow drip of information

coming out that was possible that the president

of the United States was involved

in bribing burglars to keep quiet

about a break-in that affected the election.

And of course, Nixon said this was completely untrue.

I welcome this kind of examination,

because people have gotta know whether or not

their President's a crook.

Well, I'm not a crook.

There were rumblings

about impeaching the president,

but no serious rumblings.

I had always had the highest respect possible

for the presidency and I could not imagine

that I would be engaged in a process

which could lead to the end of the presidency.

It was only last week that

the Senate Watergate Committee learned of the existence

of tape recordings

of President Nixon's conversations.

The tapes would tell the truth

and Nixon didn't want the tapes to come out.

This administration has, I think, gone further

in terms of waiving executive privilege

than any administration in my memory.

On the question of impeachment of the President,

a matter now being examined by the House Judiciary Committee

is whether he illegally received...

I not only did a lot of homework and study,

I lived the impeachment matter.

It was a 24-hour-a-day engagement.

Could I ask any of you to say

what your own definition of impeachable offence is?

I have no difficulty saying that.

I do not feel that an impeachable offence

has to be an indictable offence.

I do not think it has to be one

which shows criminality...

You wouldn't say, "I'm not a crook",

if you weren't a crook.

That was enough for the rest of us,

but she needed the facts.

The great disservice to the country

would be to react emotionally.

Some of my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee

said, "He's guilty. I'm ready to vote."

I said, "But I am not.

And I will not be ready

until I have satisfied my own mind."

That reason, reason tells me

that this process has to be worked now.

The Nixon tapes were finally released

by the Supreme Court.

One of the tapes showed that Nixon had ordered

the cover-up from the beginning.

The committee will view to determine why

the President of the United States

felt it necessary to spy on citizens of this country.

Tamper with the evidence. It's a long list.

I felt as though there was no bottom

to the misconduct, abuses of power

of Nixon and of his team.

There was so much criminal--

Let's be honest about it, criminal stuff going on.

It was three evenings that the 38 members

of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee

each had 15 minutes to say something

about the matter of impeachment.

1970s, we didn't have social media.

We didn't have all these distractions.

We actually all watched the news.

Everybody was glued to what was happening

in these proceedings.

Barbara was always a little bit of perfectionist.

She told me that on the way down

to the hearing, she made some revisions

to the text.

If I can get into the vernacular,

I had to have my stuff together.

I felt that I was participating

in a very important historical event.

What was at stake?

We were talking about a widespread

criminal conspiracy led by the President

of the United States.

And the question was, "What are we, the people,

going to do about it?"

Barbara Jordan addressed sharply focused

on the question.

I recognize the gentlelady from Texas,

Miss Jordan, the purpose of general debate,

not to exceed a period of 15 minutes.

- Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Miss Jordan.

Earlier today, we heard the beginning

of the preamble to the Constitution

of the United States.

We, the people.

It's a very eloquent beginning,

but when that document was completed

on the 17th of September in 1787,

I was not included in that "We, the people."

I felt somehow for many years

that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton

just left me out by mistake.

But through the process of amendment,

interpretation, and court decision,

I have finally been included in "We the people."

Today I am an inquisitor.

An hyperbole would not be fictional

and would not overstate the solemnness

that I feel right now.

My faith in the Constitution is whole,

it is complete, it is total.

And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator

to the diminution, the subversion,

the destruction of the Constitution.

When I watched this Black woman,

so articulate, so engaging,

she becomes me.

She becomes my mother and grandmother

and every woman that I know

and every African American woman

that was privileged to be born African American

in this country.

We know the nature of impeachment.

We've been talking about it a while now.

It is chiefly designed for the president

and his high ministers to somehow be called

into account.

It is designed to bridle the executive

if he engages in excesses.

It is designed as a method of national inquest

into the conduct of public men,

framers confided in the Congress,

the power, if need be, to remove the president

in order to strike a delicate balance

between a president swollen with power

and grown tyrannical and preservation

of the independence of the executive.

But impeachment must proceed within the confines

of the constitutional term, high crime and misdemeanors.

If the impeachment provision in the Constitution

of the United States will not reach

the offenses charged here, then perhaps

that 18th century Constitution should be abandoned

to a 20th century paper shredder.

Barbara Jordan built the case that we're not doing this.

The framers envisioned this.

And they didn't envision it for something trivial.

They envisioned it for something serious.

She essentially walked America through the Constitution,

the amendments, the debate over the impeachment articles.

With Nixon, it was all about

whether he had violated the Constitution.

If you're following the Constitution,

then you're doing the right thing

and you have parameters.

It is reason and not passion which must guide

our deliberations, guide our debate,

and guide our decision.

I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.

I recognize the...

Barbara Jordan was looking the camera

right straight in the eye, looked down the throat

of the camera, and said, "America,

this is what's on the table.

This is what we have to decide.

See it clearly. Have no confusion about it.

This, my friends, is what it's about."

No question.

It was an emotional time because so much was at stake.

- Mr. Seiberling? - Aye.

- Mr. Danielson? - Aye.

- Mr. Drinan? - Aye.

- Ms. Holtzman? Aye.

Mr. Rangel?

Aye.

- Ms. Jordan? Aye.

Behind the committee hearing room,

several of us cried,

absolutely shed tears.

For Richard Nixon, no, but that the country

had come to this.

The House Judiciary Committee today

recommended formally the impeachment

of President Richard Nixon.

Republican leaders, seeing that

the midterm elections were about to come up,

knew that if Nixon were going to fight this,

that no Republicans would have been elected.

Therefore, I shall resign the presidency,

effective at noon tomorrow.

When she left the Capitol that night,

there were people waiting outside

as she got in her car to leave.

She couldn't believe it.

And then in the days following that,

the outpouring.

I'd say I got maybe a dozen letters

from people who didn't agree with me.

But you contrast that to the hundreds

upon hundreds of that, that did it for me.

It's no small thing to be socialized

in the state of Texas as a black woman,

being pushed down the way she was,

How do you come through that and then present yourself

to the nation in such a forceful way?

Any of your black friends say to you,

"How could you get up there in front of the country

and say you had faith in the Constitution

and the law of this country when you are a descendant

of slaves, undoubtedly?

Um, and look what the country has done to us,

et cetera, et cetera."

Well, certainly some-- a few will say,

"How can you say that?

And you're just you're lying to people.

You can't really believe that, you said it,

because it sounds pretty to feel that way."

Well, Dick, if and I do believe

in the basic fundamental ideas

on which this country was founded.

What if I checked out, checked out on the country,

checked out on the Constitution,

decided it really doesn't have anything to do

with the inclusion of me now or ever?

Then what do I do? Pack up my bags and go to sea?

I think for the first time,

she may not have been looked upon as a black person,

but as an American.

Barbara Jordan became a media personage,

a household name.

Her speaking calendar booked solid

a year in advance.

The fact that she's the first this

or the first that isn't what's kept her

at the top.

It's a keen intelligence, a voice, a presence.

Let's talk about the mystery of Barbara Jordan.

Is marriage anything that comes into your thinking?

Oh, time to time comes into my thinking.

What do you do when it does?

I look around and see who's available.

And I usually come up with a blank.

And so I-- and so then I don't get married.

Would you mind if it didn't happen?

I don't think I'd take it to my bed over it.

Um, as a matter of fact, I think I could survive it.

The press was pretty gentle about people's sexuality.

Uh, if they didn't come out of the closet,

I don't remember her discussing it.

If Barbara Jordan was in office

and she had even indicated that she was a gay person

and tried to come out,

she would have been ostracized,

first of all, by the black community.

She would have been driven out of office.

She would have lost all her credibility,

all her fame.

It just would have gone down the drain.

You compound homophobia and racism.

It is a toxic combination.

She had really good reasons for keeping

her relationship quiet.

At the same time, her friends always said,

you know, she never denied it in personal relationships.

It wasn't a case of internalized homophobia

that she pretended to the people

that she trusted that she wasn't gay.

But it wasn't information that the public was ready

to hear from someone who was going

to represent them.

Shortly after the Watergate hearings,

she noticed some changes in her vision

and some weakness in her muscles.

So she went in for some tests.

The initial tests came back as multiple sclerosis.

The type of MS that Barbara Jordan had,

you'd have an attack and then remission,

and each attack would leave a portion

of your body further damaged.

But she kept it secret.

The family seemed to have been the last to know

specifically what the illness was.

She did not discuss it with us.

Neither we noticed the deterioration

and knew that she was doing all that was possible

to improve it.

So little was known about the disease

at the time or potential cures.

There was an uncertainty within her

about her own life and well-being.

But like so many things in Barbara's life,

she put it aside, 'cause she was gonna go do

what she was gonna go do.

Right now, I'm just very pleased

that I've won re-election to represent

the 18th Congressional District in Congress.

A political office isn't a destination.

It's a tool.

She was there to do things.

And she had a very impressive list

of congressional accomplishments.

She helped shape hundreds of bills.

Barbara, congratulations.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I watch your commentary.

Do you now?

I hope that uh, they meet with your approval

from time to time.

From time to time.

From time to time.

In '75, Barbara worked to ensure that

the Voting Rights Act extension

also included Hispanic groups.

The bill that I will sign today

broadens the provisions to bar discrimination

against Spanish-speaking Americans,

American Indians, Alaskan Natives,

and Asian Americans.

There you are.

- Thank you. - Okay.

- All right. - Good.

We will be here seven years from now.

And if the act needs to be extended again,

we'll do that.

Among your detractors, you're known as having

an impatience with those not as smart as you

an impatience bordering on arrogance.

Would you say that's fair?

Oh, I think that's unfair.

It is just my desire to see things move along

expeditiously without too many missed steps.

The key to moving ahead

has been understanding power.

That includes knowing the rules.

It also includes guarding her independence,

avoiding labels, making alliances all right,

but not risking too much on them.

She was not really very active

in the Black Caucus.

She was just overcome with the responsibilities

of her district.

Blacks are concerned about heat, hot water, getting jobs,

unemployment, and uh...

The politician who is Black

will be successful

in the larger arena when he can show

and demonstrate flexibility

on a broad spectrum of issues

and not be a knee-jerk Black.

I would gamble that if you would attempt

to ask her,

"What did it mean to you being a Black American?",

that she'll find some way

of telling you that she was just

an American who happened to be Black.

There is no law which says all Black people

who are elected to Congress must agree

with each other on every point.

And you don't?

And I don't.

What about women?

Other women members of Congress?

This is the time that we will make women

and men share equally in the greatness

of America.

She told legislative assistant,

Bob Alcock, of a conversation she had

with New York's militant Congresswoman Bella Abzug.

Did you know that Bella wanted

all the women to sit together on the floor today

while they considered the women's rights bill?

No, I didn't know that.

It's very interesting.

And I said I wouldn't sit with 'em.

So she said, "Well, they would all come over

and sit with me."

And I told them I'd move.

She would not call herself a "feminist",

because it was considered a white woman's domain.

That is how the National Organization of Women

were unofficially identified.

And Barbara Jordan was not going

to be pigeonholed.

You've been criticized from time to time

by both Blacks and women for not being more a part

of their team.

I think I am contributing

to the work of the team every time I get out of bed

and go to work.

There's a Black and there's a woman

on the job doing things, hopefully beneficial

to the interests of Black people

and of women.

The very first man to die

for the War of Independence in this country

was a Black man named Crispus Attucks.

Crispus Attucks.

He was a fool.

All but we wanted to prove what great Americans we were.

We begged the white folk to let us fight

in the War of Independence.

And they had us fighting the Indians.

Like fools, we should have teamed up

with the Indians and take care of you know who.

I am militant in my insides.

I know that there are problems

which Black people face which must be solved.

And even though you seethe underneath

and you want to break out in some kind of a display

of aggressiveness, the truth of the matter

is that in the back of your mind, you know,

that in the long run, that display of aggressiveness

is going to retard the cause that you're trying to fulfill

or to bring about.

So you suppress, you suppress.

The last eight years, we have seen

the employment suffer,

a recession induced by the combination

of Mr. Nixon and Mr. Ford.

It's time that people found out

that when God put us here, he said we were equal.

You know, it's time to start thinking about that.

I, Gerald R. Ford, do grant a full, free,

and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon

for all offenses against the United States.

For the past eight years,

Washington, D.C. has been under a pollution alert,

because of the stench of republicanism

accompanied by some other foul odors.

And those other foul odors may be labeled dishonor,

disgrace, betrayal of trust.

The only way that we are going

to be able to purify the air

is to elect that rational, compassionate,

depth of intellect man by the name of Jimmy Carter.

My name is Jimmy Carter and I'm running for president.

I made a decision to help Carter get elected,

because the two terms I served in Congress,

I had Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

And I thought one experience that you've got to have

is to serve in Congress with a democratic president.

I was gonna get a chance to hear Barbara Jordan speak.

And that was a big deal for her

being the first African-American

speaking there.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Ladies and gentlemen.

When Bob Strauss introduced her,

he didn't go through a litany of firsts.

He just said, "The Honorable Congresswoman

Barbara Jordan from Houston."

...Of Houston, Texas.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

144 years ago,

members of the Democratic Party

first met in convention to select

a presidential candidate.

And our meeting is a continuation

of that tradition.

But there is something different about tonight.

There is something special about tonight.

What is different? What is special?

I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker.

And my presence here

is one additional bit of evidence

that the American dream need not forever be deferred.

We have a positive vision of the future

founded on the belief that the gap

between the promise and reality of America

can one day be finally closed.

We believe that.

Let there be no illusions about the difficulty

of forming this kind of a national community.

It's tough, but a spirit of harmony will survive

in America only if each of us remembers

when self-interest and bitterness seem to prevail

that we share a common destiny.

I have confidence that we can form this kind

of national community.

I am going to close my speech by quoting

a Republican president.

And I ask you that as you listen

to these words of Abraham Lincoln,

relate them to the concept of a national community

in which every last one of us...

participates.

"As I would not be a slave...

so I would not be a master."

This...

This, this expresses my idea...

of democracy.

Whatever differs from this to the extent

of the difference is no...

democracy.

Thank you.

After Jimmy Carter was elected

there was all this speculation

who was gonna be appointed what.

Barbara had one spot she wanted.

She wanted to be Attorney General

of the United States.

She could do a lot on the issues she cares about,

anti-discriminating, voting rights, civil rights.

Was it possible for Barbara Jordan

to become Attorney General under Jimmy Carter in 1976?

No.

Society was not prepared.

We were still gathered around the television set

if a black person was on television in the '70s.

I don't think that I'm trapped

in representing the 18th Congressional District

for the rest of my life.

I may want to do something else.

One of your colleagues said Barbara Jordan

has a gothic preoccupation with power.

Politics, Paul, is about power.

And to say that it's not, I think, is to deny

the reality of-- of politics.

I don't yearn for power for myself,

but I certainly yearn for power to get things done

for the people I represent.

Tonight, Carter interviews Representative Barbara Jordan,

who is in the running for Attorney General.

Barbara was excited to go to the meeting with Carter.

On her way into Blair House,

Representative Jordan said she hadn't the faintest idea

what post she was being considered for,

but sources said that it was indeed

Attorney General.

The Texas congresswoman left 45 minutes later

before the hour allotted for the interview had ended.

I personally, as a reporter covering the story,

thought that President Carter considered her seriously.

He had his guy, Griffin Bell,

because people put their guys in.

I felt that the black and the woman stuff

were just side issues and that people

were going to ignore that.

Now that was naiveté on my part.

You were reported as being arrogant

in saying that you would only consider

the cabinet position of Attorney General.

I suppose I was.

Uh, that is...

I don't know that there is any sin to be attached

to one being arrogant if one has a reason

to be arrogant.

I do not apologize.

Andrew Young ultimately got the appointment

as ambassador to the United Nations.

And there were a number of key African-American leaders

who also served in his administration.

But Barbara was not one of them.

We've got to take that risks, Senator.

In my judgement the 14th and 15th ammendments

to the constitution demand that we take that risks

if those provisions of the constitution

are supposed to mean anything.

Politics is not easy for a woman.

And that is period, no semi-colon.

There is a sense still

that woman are not quite up to the job

when it comes to deciding on difficult issues

that is perception, that is not reality.

I shall not seek elective office

in 1978.

I am going to serve out my term.

I trust that there will be something for me to do

with the rest of my life.

I believe that I uh, I have a contribution to continue

to make in either the public or the private sector, but...

I felt that I had made an impact.

And frankly, I couldn't think of any way

I could do more

or get the attention of more people

or command the attention of more people

or get them to listen

that I had done that and given the structure

of the body as large and lumbersome

and cumbersome as it is.

In that setting, I felt that I had run out

of my strength.

If you think of that speech

that Barbara Jordan gave

at the Watergate impeachment proceedings,

that was someone teaching a lesson.

And then what does she do?

She ends up becoming a teacher.

It's Professor Barbara Jordan now,

not Congresswoman Jordan anymore.

Her audience now is 14 graduate students

at the Lyndon B. Johnson School

of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.

Well, we're in new quarters here today,

and I hope that--

Morning, Dan.

Morning.

I want to test your powers of concentration.

Ignore the lights. Ignore the camera.

Ignore the star.

And just, that is, that star, not this one.

She loved to challenge those students.

I no longer have any interest

in elective office.

I think my future is in seeing to it

that the next generation is ready to take over.

She had so much reach into places

that desperately needed another image of someone.

We went into the AIDS epidemic,

the deaths, and the isolation.

We so much needed role models, and heroes,

and heroines to step up.

And the question was posed to her,

why she was so silent on LGBT issues.

And she said there are only so many banners

she can carry at one time.

And I understand.

And it still makes me sad today.

A mystery disease known as the gay plague

has become an epidemic unprecedented

in the history of American medicine.

Why haven't the bathhouses,

whose sole purpose is to provide a setting

for casual, promiscuous homosexual sex,

been closed down?

To add the AIDS virus

to the list of contagious diseases

for which immigrants and aliens

can be denied entry.

We'll make America great again.

♪ It's like a jungle sometimes ♪

♪ It makes me wonder how I keep going under ♪

We have failed.

People who come to power have been more concerned

with exacerbating our divisions

rather than healing our wounds.

If we are the inclusive society,

the inclusive government we say we are,

then everybody ought to have a say.

Freddie, you're buying into this system.

And you used to be about something.

I am about something.

I am about studying this system,

understanding it, so I can change it.

Goodbye, Tracy Chapman.

Hello, Barbara Jordan.

Nancy and she had designed their house

that they wanted to have out in the country.

There was this huge public area for entertaining.

She would have plenty of food

and a lot of group singing.

And of course, Barbara would do solos

every now and then.

It was just so special.

And the older we got, the more special it became.

Of course, there was food and there was fun.

But she started to have an annual party for the team.

One of the pleasures that Barbara had

as she came back to Austin was to go support

the Lady Longhorns, the wonderful women's

basketball team at the University of Texas.

She became an instant expert.

So uh, she gave a lot of coaching advice.

I asked her to refrain from berating the officials.

Barbara would yell at these young women,

"Can we not shoot?" It was like, "Oh my God."

And Barbara never missed a game.

Barbara Jordan and I were good friends

for many years.

We were friends other than being

political friends.

We sat together at the Lady Longhorn

basketball games at the University of Texas.

And oftentimes, you'd be frustrated

with Barbara because you couldn't get her

to relax.

You know, you couldn't get her to not be Barbara Jordan.

And they like to tell dirty jokes to each other.

I'm delighted to be here with you this evening,

because after listening to George Bush

all these years, I figured you needed to know

what a real Texas accent sounds like.

When mom was elected governor,

she was trying to change state government.

Barbara said, "Yeah, I'm-- I'm there with you."

And Ann appointed Barbara as her ethics counsel.

I cannot tell you how intimidating it was

to walk into that room and be with the voice of God.

And then immediately how warm and loving she was.

She said, "You can make money or you can do public service,

but you're not gonna intermingle the two."

She pretty much carved out that niche,

America's ethics advisor.

It's with great pleasure

that I today announce my intention to nominate

United States Court of Appeals Judge,

Robert H. Bork,

to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Robert Bork's America is a land in which women

would be forced into back alley abortions.

Blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters.

Rogue police could break down citizens' doors

in midnight rage.

And schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution.

Writers and artists would be censured

at the whim of government.

You don't get converted and become...

Civil rights leaders who have been

standing in line to denounce his nomination

today got their chance.

Hearing will come to order.

It's an honor to have you here.

And I would ask you to raise your right hand

if I may, Congresswoman, to be sworn.

Do you swear to tell the whole truth

and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do, Mr. Chairman.

And thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

My opposition to this nomination

is really a result of living 51 years

as a Black American born in the South

and determined to be heard by the majority community.

He has disagreed with the principle

of one person, one vote many times.

This is what he said.

"I do not think

there is a theoretical basis for it."

My word.

I'll tell you this much.

There is a common sense...

natural, rational basis

for all votes counting equally.

It will be very dangerous to have someone sitting

on the supreme court

who doesn't take individual rights seriously.

The Supreme Court of the United States

is the last bulwark of protection

for our freedoms.

Senator Humphrey.

Which title do you prefer?

Whichever is comfortable for you.

You throw it back every time, don't you?

Um. All right.

Congresswoman Jordan, was the Senate wrong

in confirming Robert Bork

to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals?

I don't know whether you were wrong.

You might have been.

Well, in your opinion.

I'm asking in your opinion.

I know, I know, I know what you're asking.

The Senate, in its collective wisdom,

apparently decided it was the correct thing

for the Senate to do,

and I would not second guess it.

Well, but really, you're evading

the question outrageously.

First, you accuse Robert Bork of violating the law--

He did violate the law.

Very well, then, in your opinion,

what possible reason could the Senate have

for confirming unanimously someone you claim

violated the law?

The Senate maybe felt that that was not

a serious enough aberration for them

to deny confirmation.

Oh, you really can't be serious.

You can't be serious on that.

Of course, I can be.

I've never seen you humorous, I must say.

So uh, maybe this is the first time,

tongue in cheek.

Um, you're very good.

Professor, I believe

I'll call you, "Professor".

All right.

I could get a lesser person really

over a barrel.

I can't get you over that barrel.

Um, let's talk about another point.

You said something about you personally saw

the Supreme Court as the guardian of your rights.

I think here is the nub of this controversy.

I view the Constitution, and not judges,

as the guardian of our freedom,

our rights, our liberty.

You're right. This is the nub of the issue.

Whew. Got one.

Finally, you're right.

The nub of the issue is this.

Many people, particularly weak people,

underprivileged, unrepresented,

underrepresented, minority people,

particularly the outs, have looked

to the Supreme Court.

Yes.

As the rescuer.

Mmhmm.

The Supreme Court will throw out a lifeline

when the legislators, and the governors,

and the everybody else refuses to do so.

I think Jordan can see down the road

how Supreme Court appointments can not only roll back

some of those measures that helped catapult her,

but also concerns about the punitive nature

of lawmaking.

We do not want to see an articulate

and persuasive voice on the Supreme Court saying,

"That's not your function."

Congress suffered when you left us,

but it's a delight to have you back here today.

Thank you, Senator.

I remember when you were a member of Congress,

you were one of the most articulate members

I had the pleasure of serving on the conference committee

with you, and I knew you in other ways.

And of course, I differ with you

on this nomination,

but I hope you're getting along nice in Texas

and enjoying your work

at the Lyndon Johnson School of Government.

I am.

There's an old uh, English expression

that says, "Character brings forth character."

You brought forth in this body,

when you were here,

and hopefully, in this committee.

There was a long time, for me, 15 years,

with Barbara where we didn't know

what was going on with her health.

I never heard exactly what it was.

We were just shocked when she had a cane,

and then we shocked more when she had her wheelchair.

I think we all just hoped that there was nothing wrong.

Barbara and Nancy were deeply devoted

to each other.

As Barbara needed more and more help, physically.

That was a test.

Because any time a relationship changes

from being partners, friends, to caretaker,

that was some rough years.

And all of us tried to help.

I watched her becoming more and more disabled,

but it didn't affect her mind.

She was still blowing and going and making speeches.

the American dream is not dead.

It is not dead.

It is gasping for breath.

But it is not dead.

The things that I was part of didn't change.

And not one time ever did I hear Barbara complain.

There was no self-pity.

Barbara Jordan, the former Congresswoman

and memorable political orator,

died today at the age of 59.

Today, Texas lost a pioneer.

I have this morning asked

that the state flags be lowered

to half-staff in memory of a great Texan.

Life is not always fair.

And the people who have the most

to contribute, why, I don't know why,

they are the ones we lose.

My dear Barbara Jordan,

if I were sitting on a porch across from God,

I would thank him for sending you to us.

Well, Nancy, um, the truth is

I'd counted on Barbara preaching my funeral.

She always could make things sound a lot better

than they were.

Last time I saw Barbara Jordan

was when Liz Carpenter talked me into coming

to the University of Texas to give a speech

on race relations on the day of the Million Man March.

I was nervous enough as it was.

And I walked out into that vast arena.

And there were 17,000 people there.

But I could only see one, Barbara Jordan,

smiling at me.

And there I was about to give a speech to her

about race and the Constitution.

It was the nearest experience

on this earth to the pastors giving a sermon

with God in the audience.

When Barbara Jordan talked,

we listened.

She took to heart what her Grandpa Patton

told her when she was a little girl.

You just trot your own horse and don't get

into the same rut as everyone else.

Well, she sure trotted her own horse.

And she made her own path wide and deep.

Barbara's death and her wishes

for her death came up fairly often,

because she wanted everyone to understand

that she wanted to be buried

on the highest hill in the state cemetery

next to Stephen F. Austin, who's the Father of Texas.

So where's Barbara Jordan buried?

On top of the highest hill on the corner

of Stephen F. Austin.

And there's only one word on the backside

of that gravestone.

She wanted to be remembered as a teacher.

I'm a patriot.

And I don't feel that I need to apologize for that.

I'm not willing to abandon patriotism

to what is called, "the right wing".

It sounds so old fashioned for a representative to say,

I am going to protect the rights and secure

the liberties of the American people.

But that's what we're going to have to become.

Old fashioned watchdogs of the civil liberties

of American citizens.

Growing up in Houston, Texas,

I feel like I've always known the name.

I found more about her once I joined

the Texas Southern University debate team.

Her voice, the way she speak,

her speeches are something you can get drawn into.

It's kind of like hearing the voice of God speaking.

"Earlier today, we heard the beginning

of the preamble to the Constitution

of the United States.

-We, the people." -"We, the people."

"We, the people."

"It's a very eloquent beginning.

But when that document was completed

on the 17th of September in 1787..."

"I was not included in that 'We, the people.'"

"I felt somehow for many years

that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton

had just left me out by mistake."

"But through the process of amendment,

interpretation, and court decision..."

"I have finally been included..."

"I have finally been included..."

"I have finally been included..."

"In, 'We, the people.'"

"Today, I am an inquisitor."

"Today, I am an inquisitor."

"Today, I'm an inquisitor."

-"Today..." -"Today..."

-"Today..." -"Today..."

"I am an Inquisitor."

"I am an Inquisitor."

"I am an Inquisitor."

"Today, I am an Inquisitor."

We thank you for joining us as we dedicate

the first building in the Texas Capitol Complex

to bear the name of a black woman,

Barbara Jordan.

♪ We rise above the sorrow ♪

♪ We find a way to shine in the dark ♪

♪ We're the heartbeat of tomorrow ♪

♪ No mistaken identity ♪

♪ We know who we are ♪

♪ Our voices echo like thunder ♪

♪ As we break the chains ♪

♪ You can't hurt us anymore ♪

♪ We've gotten used to the pain ♪

♪ And when we stand, we're unstoppable ♪

♪ When we stand, nothing's impossible ♪

♪ When we stand, strength in numbers amplified ♪

♪ Side by side, shoulder to shoulder ♪

♪ Hand in hand when we stand ♪

♪ The songs of freedom we're singing ♪

♪ Wooh ♪

♪ Words that will show us the way back home ♪

♪ And when it's us we believe in ♪

♪ We believe ♪

♪ No matter what they say, you will never walk alone ♪

♪ Our voices echo like thunder ♪

♪ As we break the chains ♪

♪ You can't hurt us anymore ♪

♪ We've gotten used to the pain ♪

♪ And when we stand, we're unstoppable ♪

♪ When we stand, nothing's impossible ♪

♪ When we stand, strength in numbers amplified ♪

♪ Side by side, shoulder to shoulder ♪

♪ Hand in hand when we ♪

♪ Stand up ♪

♪ There's no mountain we can't climb ♪

♪ Stand up ♪

♪ Long as we stand together, we'll be fine ♪

♪ Stand up ♪

♪ We can make the world a better place ♪

♪ Like nothing and nobody

♪ Nobody ♪

Coming between us ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Stand up till they see us ♪

♪ When we stand ♪

♪ Oh, we're unstoppable ♪

♪ When we stand ♪

♪ Oh, we can do the impossible ♪

♪ When we stand, strength in numbers amplified ♪

♪ Side by side, shoulder to shoulder ♪

♪ Hand in hand

♪ When we stand ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ When we, when we stand ♪

♪ When we, when we, when we, when we ♪

♪ When we, when we ♪

♪ When we stand ♪

♪ Ooh ♪