Barbara Jordan — First Black Woman Elected to Congress from the Deep South

Barbara Jordan was elected to the US House of Representatives from Texas, becoming the first Black woman from the Deep South to serve in Congress. A brilliant orator and constitutional scholar, Jordan delivered a electrifying speech during the Nixon impeachment hearings in 1974 that made her a national figure. She went on to deliver the keynote address at the 1976 Democratic National Convention — the first African American woman to do so. Jordan was a closeted lesbian who lived with her partner Nancy Earl for nearly 30 years. Her sexuality was not publicly acknowledged until after her death in 1996, when her obituary named Earl as her long-term companion.