Political Power

In 1962, Barbara ran for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives. She lost but this did not discourage her. She ran again two years later, again losing.

In 1966 she ran for State Senate and won! She became the first African American to be elected to the Texas legislature in 84 years.

In 1972 she ran for Congress, becoming the first African American congresswoman elected from any Southern State. Just before she went to Washington, Barbara's friends in the Texas legislature crowned her governor for the day, making her the first African American governor in the United States, even though it was only for a day.

In the fall of 1973 she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects your brain and muscle funtions. She made her staff swear to secrecy that they would not tell anyone and she would not let it stop her from doing anything, just as she had not let her race stop her. In 1976 she was asked to do the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, becoming the first black woman to make a keynote address at a National Convention.