Don’t forget Barbara Jordan on Juneteenth

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Barbara Jordan made history in 1966 by becoming the first African American woman to win a Texas state senate seat and then later a U.S. congressional seat. She would have endorsed celebrating Juneteenth. Courtesy

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If she were alive, Texan Barbara Jordan would heartily endorse the celebration of Juneteenth, the federal holiday signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021. The congresswoman has faded into history, but the impact she had on the nation shouldn’t be forgotten.

Democrat Jordan, some may recall, landed a primetime television spot to deliver an opening statement on July 25, 1974 during the impeachment hearings of President Richard Nixon because of the Watergate scandal. Also on that House Judiciary Committee debating impeachment counts was Lake County Congressman Robert McClory, a Lake Bluff Republican who has a county bike and walking path dedicated in his name.

Jordan, a freshman congresswoman from Houston, grew up in the segregated Jim Crow era. She had earlier made history as the first African-American woman from a former Confederate state to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives since 1901. She served from 1973 to 1979, eventually stepping down due to health reasons.

Jordan died at the young age of 59 in 1996 and she surely would be all in on Juneteenth. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 by President Bill Clinton.

A few Lake County communities are marking the Juneteenth occasion of June 19, 1865 when the last enslaved people in the U.S., those residing in east Texas, were finally told by Union officers they were free men and women, two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. For generations, Black Americans celebrated the day amongst themselves, but it is now part of the nation’s fabric.

At a time of increasing division and the rolling back of federal diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives by the administration of President Donald Trump, this Juneteenth is a chance to celebrate. Yet, across the U.S., many Juneteenth celebrations have been scaled back due to funding shortfalls as corporations and municipalities across the country reconsider DEI support, according to a report by The Associated Press.

Two events will be held in Lake County, following the College of Lake County’s indoor Juneteenth Picnic on June 18 at the Lakeshore Campus in downtown Waukegan.

In Grayslake, “A Celebration of Freedom Walk” will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. June 19, beginning at the library, traveling through Central Park and ending at the village’s Heritage Center and Museum. Lots of activities coincide with the event and the keynote speaker at 6:15 p.m. will be Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham.

Also on hand will be the Chicago-based Mobile Museum of Tolerance bus, a self-contained classroom on wheels offering interactive exhibits featuring the struggle for equality during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

On Saturday, June 21, a Juneteenth Parade and Festival will be held in Waukegan, with the parade stepping off at 1 p.m. The route is along Washington Street, from Jackson Street east to Sheridan Road. Following the parade the festival featuring vendors, food trucks and live music will be held in Waukegan’s Downtown on Genesee Street between Madison and Washington streets. Coordinating the event is the African American Museum at England Manor, 503 Genesee St.

It is part of Black history that Congresswoman Jordan’s actions during the Watergate probe catapulted her into the national spotlight. Her stentorian oratory skills and command of constitutional law — she received her law degree from Boston University — tabbed her as a rising star in the Democratic Party.

She was mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate in 1976 with the party’s presidential candidate, Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, who went on to defeat President Gerald Ford. Jordan became the first African American and the first woman to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention, at the party’s New York City gathering in 1976.

But it was during the first session of the House Judiciary Committee hearing was aired nationally by all three over-the-air networks in the evening of July 25, that Jordan certainly rose in stature. With Americans captivated by Watergate, it had one of the largest viewing audiences at the time.

It was the eloquence of her defense of the Constitution and the rule of law, something which has been lost these last few months, that stays with many of us.

Such as when she said: “I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision I have finally been included in ‘We, the people’.” How true is that?

Or when, as part of her 13-minute speech castigating Nixon’s beliefs as president that he was above the rule of law, she pointed out: “My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.”

Ah, but if some in Washington, D.C., would but read her succinct and stirring words on this Juneteenth. They may have a different perspective than what their recent actions have proclaimed.

Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor. sellenews @gmail.com. X: @sellenews.