Rep. Corrine Brown: “in the grand tradition of Mary McLeod Bethune, Shirley Chisholm, and Dorothy Height, former Congresswoman Barbara…”

“in the grand tradition of Mary McLeod Bethune, Shirley Chisholm, and Dorothy Height, former Congresswoman Barbara Charline Jordan carried our Nation's baton for freedom, justice, and equality as one of the first female African-American Member of Congress. When she retired from Congress in 1977, she left an incredible void and a legacy that my colleagues and I have worked tirelessly to fulfill. Jordan, who died last month in Houston, TX at age 59, was a true inspiration for past, present, and future female African-American Members of Congress. Both as a Texas State senator and as a U.S. Congresswoman, Jordan sponsored bills that championed the cause of poor, black, disadvantaged, and working people. Barbara Jordan would be saddened today by the challenges to minority voting districts, including the very district Jordan once represented and is now represented by my colleague, Sheila Jackson-Lee. Minority voting districts have been instrumental in ensuring that we are all included in 'We the People.'”