Document 58: "Introduction of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan by Lady Bird Johnson, First Plenary Session," in National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, The Spirit of Houston: The First National Women's Conference (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978), pp. 222-23.

p. 222

INTRODUCTION OF CONGRESSWOMAN BARBARA JORDAN
BY LADY BIRD JOHNSON, FORMER FIRST LADY

FIRST PLENARY SESSION
NOVEMBER 19, 1977

   How pleased I am to add my voice of welcome to you who have come here to Texas to help move history forward and to say how honored we are to have Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter!

   I once thought the women's movement belonged more to my daughters than to me, but I have come to know that it belongs to women of all ages. I am proud to say and I want you to know that Texas was the ninth State to ratify the right to vote and the seventh State to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

   While you are here I hope you will meet many of the Texas women who are today's doers. We have an impressive share of bright, articulate women in every part of this State—women who are mayors of cities, large and small, county clerks, presidents of great universities, deans of schools, lawyers, and doctors, and artists.

   Certainly one of the brightest stars in this galaxy is the woman I have the privilege of introducing today.

   Texas has known for some time that it was watching someone quite remarkable as Barbara Jordan kept enlarging her claim on our attention…. back when she was an outstanding student in Phyllis Wheatley High School here in Houston: back when her debate team at Texas Southern University tied with Harvard, and she graduated magna cum laude.

   Texas watched with growing interest when she made her first races for the State legislature in the early sixties and lost. Later we cheered when she ran for the State senate in 1966 and won.

   By the time she claimed her seat in the United States Congress in 1972, we knew—and the nation itself began to sense—that a star was born.

p. 223

   She no longer is ours exclusively. Her voice is an American voice now, speaking with compassion and with wisdom … speaking for justice … speaking with a compelling eloquence that has gripped this nation's heart and held its people spellbound.

   My husband once said of her: "I don't know where her future's going to take her, but wherever she goes, we'll be right behind her."

   As we follow her, we are pleased to share her leadership with the nation … but we are proud to claim her as our own.

   

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