Barbara Jordan: the politics of insertion and accommodation
Title:
Barbara Jordan: the politics of insertion and accommodation
Author:
Curtin, Mary Ellen
Appeared in:
Critical review of international social and political philosophy
Paging:
Volume 7 (2004) nr. 4 pages 279-303
Year:
2004
Contents:
Barbara Jordan (1936-1996), a formidable politician, won election to the Texas Senate (1966) and to the US Congress (1972). She became one of the most celebrated African-American politicians of the twentieth century, acclaimed both by white and black. Jordan was a voluntarist, viewing individuals as able to change the world through their own actions. She was committed to the American dream of inclusion, and also to the importance of positive ties to elites; to coping with the 'world as it is', to the futility of confrontation, and also to changing and influencing the attitudes of men at the top. Jordan opposed civil disobedience, nonviolent or not. Yet she admired symbols of defiance like Malcolm X and Mohammed Ali. A highly public figure, she was also exceptionally self-repressed. Critics likened her to the conservative Booker Washington, yet she was a staunch defender of voting rights and a radical integrationist.
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