TRIBUNAL Alti
VOLLMErV , NO. 7 Vk EDNESDAY. JULY 21. 1976
S6.(M» PER ^EAR
2.5 CENTS
MEMBER: North Carolina Black Publishers Association
North Carolina Press Association. Inc.
A VIABLE, VALID REQUIREMENT
RESPONDING TO
BLACK NORTH CAROLINA
The 1976 Kdltions of THK TRIBUNAL AH) will
h* to Anu'rira's bicentennial Cele
bration. \\ ith (‘mphasis on contributions our Race
has made in the making of America, from
birth to the present.
In 1976 there should not b* a need to lift these
contributions from lsolat(‘i sources. Our past
Faye Ashe. Black History Editor
should ne interwoven into the fabric of our ci-
>ili7.ation. bi’cause we are. except for the Indian.
America s oldest ethnic minoritv.
\\ (* ha\e helped make Anierica >%hat it was.
and what it i>. since the founding of \irginia.
We ha\(‘ been a factor in man\ nwijor issues in
our hi-t)r\. There ha^e been man\ misdM‘ds
against us. \et wv ha\e been abl‘ to live through
them and fight back. I'his is li\ing proof of our
hi>tor\.
Our rule in ihe making of America Is neither
>\ril kno\Mi or correct!) known. .Many |>ositi>(‘
contributions haN(‘ escap‘d historians and ha\(‘
not loutul their waN into lh(* pages of nian>
i»i-tor\ books.
e will strive to give readers. Black and
white. man> little-known facts al>out our past
and it is hoped that a propt*r jM*rsp«‘rtive of our
his(or\ will be of >alue to iM'rsons who may
belie\* that as Black p‘ople we hiive an un
worth) past: and hen(^ ho strong claims to
all rights of other Anu‘r»cans.
[Hisforieal Landmarks
O f Black America
by Fay Ashe
A New Power On Capitol
No more substantia! testimony to the role of the Black in the ♦
growth and development of America can he found than the nu-
memus historicai landmarks in various regions of the country
which are associated with Black Americana. Many of these-like
the Alamo and Bunker Hill--are not conventionally known as
sites involving chapters of INegro history.
1844 California 1347 Rochester, N. Y.
Jim Beckwourth dis- f’rederick Douglas
covers a pass through publishes the first
the Sierra Nevadas to issue of his abolitionist
California and the Pa
cific Ocian. Star.
In 1972 when BARBARA JORDAN nedy and his running mate Lyndon
was elected to the HOUSE OF B. Johnson.
REPRESENTATIVES by voters of
1845 Worchester, Mass. 1348
Buffalo
Macon B. Allen be- convention of the
com es the first Negro free Soil Party is at-
formally admited to tended by a number of
the bar in the United IVegro abolitionist.
States.
1846
New York
1849
M aryland
the Eighteenth Congressional Dis
trict in Texas, she became the first
Black Congresswoman to come
from the deep South. Before that,
she had been an articulate and
assertive member of the Texas
state senate since 1966. She first
attracted national attention when
Presidetn Lyndon B. Johnson, ig
noring more prominent civil rights
leaders, in\ited her to the White
Hous ' for a private preview of his
1967 civil rights message. Impressed
by her social reform legislation,
Pr‘sident Johnson praised Miss
Jordan as “the epitome of new po-
litics" in the United States. “She
oroved that Black is beautiful before
we knew what it meant”.
. by federal m inim uni wage standards,
Barbara'Jordan first ran for p^^)- "THE REALLY POOR PEOPLE,
lie office in 1962. In a losing bid for a LAUNDRY W ORKERS, DOMESTICS
seat in the Texas House of Represen- (an,)) Kami workers”. Angered by
tatives, she gathered a respectable discriminatory hiring practices of
46,000 votes and ran for the same state, she forced the government
seat in 1964. In an interview for (q include antidiscrimination clauses
Ebony magazine (October 1972) jjs business contracts. With her ^
Miss Jordan said T figured anybody advice and support, the State created
who could get 46,000 people to vote ^ special department of Community
for them for any office should keep Affairs to deal with problems of
on trying”. Defeated for a second Texas’ burgeoning Urban areas,
time, she turned her attention to To insu re the participation of ni inority
the Texas Senate and in 1966 de- groups in ihe electoral process, she
feated former state representative prevented the passage of a restrict-
J.C. V^ hitefield, a white liberal, ive voter registration act.
to become the first Black woman
elected to the State Senate. ”1 During her two terms in the State
didn’t play up the fact of being Senate, Miss Jordan chaired severaK
a Negro or a woman,” she said of com ni ittees, including the labor and'
her first political victory, "It feels
Harriet Tubman soon
Abolitionist Gerritt ^ conductor on
Smith s plan to parcel up "Underground
thousands oi acres of Railroad,” escapes
his land in New York from slavery in Mary-
fails ^ to attract pro- land. (Miss Tubman la-
spective Negro larmers. (gr returns to the South
Lack of capital among |ggg il,a„ 19 times,
Negroes and the in- helps transport
fertility of the land „,„re than 300 slaves
itself combine to doom to freedom.)
the project.
1847 St. Louis, Missouri 1849
Boston
Dred Scott first files Benjamin Roberts files
suit for his freedom the first school inte-
in the Circuit Court gration suit on behalf
of St. Louis. of his daughter. The
Massachusetts Supreme
Dred Scott first files Court rejects the suit, [jorn on February 21, 1936 in
suit for his freedom and establishes a Houston, Texas, she is the youngest
equal pf three daughters of Benjamin M.
and Arlyne Jordan. Miss Jordan’
management Relation Committee
and her impressive record on that
comniitlee won her considerable
political support from organizxed
labor. During her first year in office
Miss Jordan was named the out
standing freshman Senator and was
chosen Senate President Pro-tempore |C,,
in March 1972. On June 10, 1972, SI
as the Slate’s traditional "governor
for a day”, she became the first
Black Chief executive in the Country.
Some political observers and critics
belittled Miss Jordan’s brief guber
natorial term as a "publicity stunt”.
Unperturbed, she told reporters
I I t M I I
Parents of Miss Jordan, the Re\'. and Mrs. RenjiUiiin M. Jordan, arc in
'l\‘\as State Capitol on d.iy their duuii)i{t.'i- was appointed “(joxcrnor foi' a Da\.'
Shortly after photo was taken, Rl Jordan became i!]; lie dit'd w ithin a hoins.
BARBARA CHARLINE JORDAN
in the Circuit
of St. Lou is,
Court ' 'seperate
precedent.
but
father was a Baptist Minister who
supplemented his income by working
as a warehouse clerk. She has said
that they were poor, but so was
wveryone around them, so they just
didn’t notice it. She attended Houston
public schools. Her father a strict
disciplinarian, reprimanded her
whenever she deviated from her
straight "A” average, and Miss
□■HTQononnnn n nnnrinnP‘**"**'""T
BICENTENNIAL
BLACK HISTORY
“Lost-Strayed-Or Stolen ”
by Fay Ashe
Black history in the We.stern Hemisphere most proliably !«■- something unusual” "I never
Kins V>ith the ,lis...very of the New World l.y Christo,.her Co- ,^^„(ed to be run-of-the-mill”,
lundius III 1492. Blacks are known U> have parlicipalrd m‘an- r- ,. ,
in^fully in :i numlMT «l'latt'r rxplorations made l»y Kuroprans In Alter nearing an address by Edith
various parts of the I nited Stales and Spanish America. Facts Sampson, a Black lawyer from
such as tlu'se at once fashion a new dimension for Black history Chicago, at the Phyllis Wheatly
within th' mainstream of .American history. Inasmuch as one of High School 'Xareer Day” assembly,
the primary purposes of this I'eature is to record some historical Barbara Jordan decided to become
achleN‘n«Mits (d the Black, it l)4‘conies most important tooHer the ^ law yer
r*ah*r *hr(molojiical a’‘ounts through which he *an ’on\eniently i i j j r
>amlliari/,(‘ himst'lf with the broal swet'p of American Black ^ hen Barbara graduated irom
history. The years coveretl here are 1492-1954. Phyllis Vv heatly High School in 1952,
, I o'jA -1^ ;•», she was ranked in the top five per-
Osawatomie: John m arched 230 ‘'e® ‘n
Brown Memorial State Southern University, an all-Black
Hark 10 Cheyenne who had Houston, where she
surrounded the escort . ^ ,
, . , . . maiored in political science and
party whicri was taking , . cl ii
rru* ». 1 J * hiQtnrv Sh^» ran nnciirrpsstnllv
This state park, named ,he major to his new
in honor of the fiery regiment. nrpoi
insurrectionist, con-
good to know tliat people recognize
a qualified candidate when they
see one”. Miss Jordan ran unopposed
in 1968 and was reelected to a four-
year term. She was so effective
as a state legislator that she saw
about half of the bills she submitted
for consideration enacted into law.
Among the legislation credited to
her efforts were; a law establishing
the Texas Fair practices Commission,
an improved workmen’s compensa
tion act, and the State’s first mini
mum wage law designed specici-
cally to include workers not covered
tains the cabin in which
he lived during his
brief sojourn in Kansas.
Wallace; Fort Wallace
LOUISIANA
Baton Kouge:
Southern L'niversity
She ran unsuccessfully
for president of the freshman class.
Barbara was and remains a spell
binding orator, she led the debating
team of Texas Southern to a series
of cham pionships.
In 1956 she obtained her B,A,
degree, magna cum laude. She
earned an L,L,B degree at Boston
University in 1959 and later that
year was admitted to the bar in both
Located in Baton Rouge Massachusetts and Texas. In her
Only a roadside marker since 1914, Southern home town of Houston, Miss Jordan
and a cemetery are University is the sue- began to practice general civil law
Cf^ssor to an institute f^on, ihe dining room table in her
of Fort Wallace, another founded in New Or- parents home, which served as her
of the mihtary outposts leans after the Civil War, desk, Three years later, she m anaged
used by the 10th Caval- The modern and well- (o open an office of her own. In
ry after having refused financed plant now addition to engaging in private
a regiment ol Negro serves some 12,000 practice, she worked as an admin-
troopers changed students on a breath- istrative assistant to a county judge
his attitude in the held takingly landscaped in H arris County, Texas, M iss Jordan
when Negro soldiers site that includes a ^^as convincec of the effectiveness
whom he fought along- hugh lake. The two i|gi,in,ate political change, and she
side proved their met- university satellites now begame active in the county’s Dem-
tle in battle against in existence are located o^ratic partv organization. "All
the Cheyenne. The in Shreveport and New Blacks are m'ilitants in their guts”,
black cavalrymen Orleaiis_. . . ^he explained, as quoted in TIME
HIbUOGRAPHY America New York: Pitt- (May 22,1972), "but militancy is
Drotning. Phillip T. A man Publishing CoiTHJra- expressed in different ways”.
Guide to Negro Hiatoi> in tion 1967 During the 1960 presidential
Amerioi New York: Dou- pioski. Harry A. Phe campaign, she directed Houston’s
bleday and Company, 1968 Kaiser, Ernest The Negm first Black "one person-per block”
Katz, William Loren Al*m«iMic New Yorkr Bel- P'^'^^mct drive to get support for
EyewitlWMi The Negro In luether Company Democratic nominee John F. Ken-
vJtr/-** 'iT" .
'iyik
■
BARBARA C. JORDAN
THE FIRST BLACK TO ADDRESS A
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION AS
A KEYNOTE SPEAKER
1971) "I’ve pushed a good deal of
following the official swearing-in iniportant legislation through the
cerniony, "Someday, I may want to State Senate, I'll run on my record”,
retain the governor’s seat for a longer
period of time. With her 80 percent of the total
votes cast in the May 1972 Primary
In late 1971 Barbara Jordan an- contest, Miss Jordan soundly defeat-
nounced her candidacy for the ed the three male contenders for the
Democratic nomination to the United nomination. "If I got 80 percent of
States Congress from the newly the votes, lots ol white people voted
drawn Eighteenth Congressional for me”, she said shortly after her
District, a populous and ethnically victory, "and it was because they
mixed section of Houston. Refusing to felt their interest would be included”,
be drawn into a bitter personal
battle, by her principal opponent, On the House Floor, Barbara
Curtis Graves, a Black man, Miss Jordan consistently backed legislation
Jordan concentrated on the issues to raise the standards of living of
and on her legislative record in
the Senate. "I can get things done” On the House Floor, Barbara
she said in an interview for the Jorilan consistently backed legislation
NEW YORK TIMES (September 26, to raise the standard of living of im-
povishcd Americans, she approved
the continuation ol the programs of
the Office of Economic Opportunity,
the establishment of an independent
Public Corporation to provide free
legal services to the poor, and the
creation of a powerful Consumer
Protection Agency.
Ii'. As a member of the House Judi
ciary Committee, Miss Jordan was
on(- of thirty-eight Congressmen
charged with the task of examining
and evaluating the evidence bearing
on the possible impeachment of
Prcsidciit Richard M. Nixon, The
freshman legislator, whom CBSNews
Correspondent BRUCE MORTON
once called "the best mend on the
committee’', subscribed to a broad
definition of impeachable offenses
^»^(^that Included "neglect of duty”
and "subversion of the system of
3 govcrn 11] en t''. She viewed the
\X atergate Affair as a "Cleansing
^ experience” for the political process.
On Monday night July 12, 1976
Barbara Jordan generated the first
real excitement of the Democratic
Convention, She is the First Black
■soman ever to keynote a major
lolltical convention. In opening her
evnote address, Barbara
Jordan said, "lam a Keynote Speak-
jr’'. Since the first Democratic
Convention in 1832, she said, "it
would have been most unusual for
any political party to have asked
a BARBARA JORDAN to make a
Keynote address, most unusual”,
"The past notwithstanding, a BAR
BARA JORDAN is before you to
night”, She said "This is one ad
ditional bit of evidence that the
American dream need not forever
be deferred ”,
REFERENCES; CURRENT BIO
GRAPHY H.W. WILSON COMPANY
1974 EBONY MAGAZINE FEBRU
ARY 1973 HIGH POINT ENTER
PRISE JULY 13, 1976
In Houston Astrodome. Mis^ Jordan wmms to crou 1
during football yaine between her alina nmtt-T. 'l’e\a.
Southern Univ., and Granibling Colletie of Lmnsiana.
1776 Honoring America's Bicentennial 1976
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