She Changed the Nation

She Changed the Nation
Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages : 481
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781512825817
ISBN-13 : 1512825816
Rating : 4/5 (17 Downloads)

Book Synopsis She Changed the Nation by : Mary Ellen Curtin

Download or read book She Changed the Nation written by Mary Ellen Curtin and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2024-09-10 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During her keynote speech at the 1976 Democratic Party convention, Barbara Jordan of Texas stood before a rapt audience and reflected on where Americans stood in that bicentennial year. “Are we to be one people bound together by a common spirit, sharing in a common endeavor, or will we become a divided nation? For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.” The civil rights movement had changed American politics by opening up elected office to a new generation of Black leaders, including Jordan, the first Black woman from the South to serve in Congress. Though her life in elected politics lasted only twelve years, in that short time, Jordan changed the nation by showing that Black women could lead their party and legislate on behalf of what she called “the common good.” In She Changed the Nation, biographer Mary Ellen Curtin offers a new portrait of Jordan and her journey from segregated Houston, Texas, to Washington, DC, where she made her mark during the Watergate crisis by eloquently calling for the impeachment of President Nixon. Recognized as one of the greatest orators of modern America, Jordan inspired millions, and Black women became her most ardent supporters. Many assumed Jordan would rise higher and become a US senator, Speaker of the House, or a Supreme Court justice. But illness and disability, along with the obstacles she faced as a Black woman, led to Jordan’s untimely retirement from elected office—though not from public life. Until her death at the age of fifty-nine, Jordan remained engaged with the cause of justice and creating common ground, proving that Black women could lead the country through challenging times. No change in the law alone could guarantee the election of Black leaders. It took courage and ambition for Barbara Jordan to break into politics. This important new biography explores the personal and the political dimensions of Jordan’s life, showing how she navigated the extraordinary pressures of office while seeking to use persuasion, governance, and popular politics as instruments of social change and betterment.


She Changed the Nation Related Books

She Changed the Nation
Language: en
Pages: 481
Authors: Mary Ellen Curtin
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2024-09-10 - Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

During her keynote speech at the 1976 Democratic Party convention, Barbara Jordan of Texas stood before a rapt audience and reflected on where Americans stood i
Alex Haley and the Books That Changed a Nation
Language: en
Pages: 274
Authors: Robert J. Norrell
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-11-10 - Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This in-depth biography chronicles the life, career, and enduring influence of the author of Roots and The Autobiography of Malcom X. A New York Times Sunday Bo
Fat Nation
Language: en
Pages: 217
Authors: Jonathan Engel
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-11-30 - Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The diet and weight-loss industry is worth $66 billion – billion!! The estimated annual health care costs of obesity-related illness are 190 billion or nearly
Ain't I A Woman?
Language: en
Pages: 84
Authors: Sojourner Truth
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-09-24 - Publisher: Penguin UK

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'I am a woman's rights. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I am as strong as any man that is now' A f
Vaccine Nation
Language: en
Pages: 362
Authors: Elena Conis
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015 - Publisher: University of Chicago Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

While vaccination rates have soared and cases of preventable infections have plummeted, an increasingly vocal cross section of Americans have questioned the saf