Early Life
Barbara Charline Jordan was born in Houston, Texas' Fifth Ward. Her parents were Benjamin Jordan, a Baptist minister; and Arlyne Jordan, a "domestic worker". Barbara attended Roberson Elementary School. She graduated from Phillis Wheatley High School in 1952 as an honor student.
Jordan credited a speech given at her high school by Edith S. Sampson with inspiring her to become a lawyer. Because of segregation, she did not attend The University of Texas at Austin and instead chose Texas Southern University, majoring in political science and history. Barbara was a national champion debater, defeating her opponents from such schools as Yale and Brown and tying Harvard University. She graduated magna cum laude in 1956. At Texas Southern University, she pledged Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She attended Boston University School of Law, graduating in 1959.
Read more about this topic: Barbara Jordan
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, its probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.”
—Dorothy Day (1897–1980)