Barbara Jordan was the first African American to serve in the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, and the first to deliver the keynote address at a national party convention. Yet Jordan herself remained a mystery, a woman so private that even her close friends did not know the name of the illness that debilitated her for two decades until it struck her down at the age of fifty-nine.

In Barbara Jordan, Mary Beth Rogers deftly explores the forces that shaped the moral character and quiet dignity of this extraordinary woman.  She reveals the seeds of Jordan's trademark stoicism while recapturing the essence of a black woman entering politics just as the civil rights movement exploded across the nation. Celebrating Jordan's elegance, passion, and patriotism, this illuminating portrayal gives new depth to our understanding of one of the most influential women of our time-a woman whose powerful convictions and flair for oratorical drama changed the political landscape of America's twentieth century. "This well-documented biography is a tribute to [Jordan] and a gift to those who honor the ideals for which she stood."
--Chicago Tribune

"Splendid...an inspiring account of Barbara Jordan's remarkable life."
--The New York Times Book Review

"[A] thoughtful biography of a one-of-a-kind twentieth-century figure."
--Booklist

"The new Jordan biography-like its subject-commands respect."
--Austin American-Statesman

"A reverent portrait that observes...the dignity, precision, oratorical gifts, discipline and self-sufficiency that defined Barbara Jordan."
--USA Today

"[A] splendid new biography."
--San Antonio Express-News

"Impressive...a major work...Jordan emerges from the page with an immediacy that leaves one with a new sense of loss over her death. "
--The Women's Review of Books