U.S. Black History Month: Barbara Jordan Barbara Jordan was a lawyer, legislator, and orator whose courage helped shape modern American democracy. Born on February 21, 1936, in Houston, Texas, she became the first Black woman elected to the Texas Senate since Reconstruction and later the first Southern Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she gained national recognition during the Watergate hearings for her powerful defense of the Constitution and the rule of law. Reno