IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 275 

Expressing the sense of Congress that a commemorative postage stamp should 

be issued honoring Barbara Charline Jordan. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2007 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas (for herself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. 

LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. WYNN, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. HALL

of Texas, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. POE, Mr. HOYER, and Ms. 

DELAURO) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress that a commemorative 

postage stamp should be issued honoring Barbara 

Charline Jordan. 

Whereas Barbara Charline Jordan was an American original 

as a public servant and later as a professor, and she 

transcended race, gender, and politics; 

Whereas Barbara Charline Jordan was never reluctant or 

afraid to speak truth to power and was a tireless and unceasing advocate for equal opportunity for all, equal justice under the law, and transparency, accountability, and 

ethics in government; 

Whereas in 1966 Barbara Charline Jordan became the first 

African-American woman elected to the senate of the 


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•HCON 275 IH 

State of Texas and was the only woman in the 1967– 

1968 legislative session; 

Whereas in 1972 Barbara Charline Jordan became the first 

African-American woman from the State of Texas elected 

to Congress after Reconstruction and served with distinction on the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 

Representatives; 

Whereas one of Barbara Charline Jordan’s Federal legislative 

achievements was the 1975 renewal and expansion of the 

Voting Rights Act of 1965 to include language minorities; 

Whereas in 1975 a leading national magazine surveyed 700 

political opinion leaders, and they ranked Barbara 

Charline Jordan at the top of a list of women they would 

like to see become president; 

Whereas in 1976 Barbara Charline Jordan delivered a keynote address entitled ‘‘Who Then Will Speak for the 

Common Good?’’ at the Democratic National Convention 

and in doing so became the first African-American 

woman to deliver a keynote address at the Democratic 

National Convention; 

Whereas Barbara Charline Jordan left Congress in 1979 to 

join the faculty of the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of 

Public Policy at the University of Texas, where she held 

the endowed Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair in National Policy, named for one of her political mentors, 

President Lyndon Baines Johnson; 

Whereas in 1994 Barbara Charline Jordan was awarded the 

Presidential Medal of Freedom by President William Jefferson Clinton for being ‘‘the most outspoken moral voice 

of the American political system’’; 


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•HCON 275 IH 

Whereas on January 17, 1996, Barbara Charline Jordan died 

at the young age of 59 from complications of leukemia; 

and 

Whereas commemorative postage stamps have been commissioned to honor other great leaders in American history: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the United States Postal Service should 

4 issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring Bar5 bara Charline Jordan; and 

6 (2) the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee 

7 should recommend to the Postmaster General that 

8 such stamp be issued. 

Æ 


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