Honoring The Late Barbara Jordan

She’s remembered as a Trailblazer, a  Role Model,  and a true Texan. 

Thirteen years after her death,  the  late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan  has reached another milestone:  She is the first woman to have a statue built in her honor on the campus of

The University of  Texas at Austin.

2  on the Beat travelled to Austin on Friday, April 24, 2009,  to witness the historic unveiling of the bronze statue. 

 Dozens of   people  from Houston  also attended the ceremony:  Jordan’s sister Rose McGowan; Jordan’s former debate coach, Dr. Thomas Freeman of  Texas Southern University, along with Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts, who is the Assistant debate coach at TSU, and Brandon Griffin a debate team  member, and many of  her sorority sisters from Delta Sigma Theta,  who rode a bus from Houston to Austin. 

 

  Friends and family say that with the likeness of Jordan standing with her hands on her hips, the statue really captures her  presence and personality.

 Jordan was the first African American woman elected to in the Texas Legislature, and in the  United States Congress. 

Jordan represented  Houston’s 18th congressional district. 

 After retiring from politics, she taught at UT’s  LBJ School of Public Affairs, until she died in 1996.