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.
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)