Barbara Jordan was born on February 21, 1936. She lived in her parents house back in Houston. Her father, Benjamin Jordan, worked as a Baptist minister and warehouse clerk. On the other hand, her mother Arlyne worked as a maid, housewife, and a church teacher. What inspired Barbara Jordan to be a attorney? Well, she attended to the Segregated Phillis Wheatley High School. It was career day, and a black lawyer named Edith Sampson inspired her to be a attorney. She was also apart of the Inaugural class at Texas Southern University. Barbara Jordan was apart of the democratic party politics for two decades. She was the first African American woman to be chosen as the state senate in Texas, and the first black texan in congress. She announced Richard Nixon’s 1974 impeachment hearings. Barbara Jordan soon retired after 3 terms in congress, to become a professor and policy advocate.