What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan by Chris Barton, illustrated by Ekua Holmes
What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?
The Story of Extraordinary
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
by Chris Barton, illustrated by Ekua Holmes
Purchased with grant funding for my school library
What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan is a picture book biography of the first Black woman elected to the Texas Senate and the first Southern African American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives. Born in 1936 in Houston, Texas, Jordan attended Phillis Wheatley High School where a visit from lawyer Edith Sampson inspired her future. An unforgettable public speaker with a powerful voice, Jordan first ran for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives at age twenty-six and lost. In 1964, she ran and lost again, finally winning a seat in 1966. During the impeachment trial of President Nixon, millions of television viewers watched Jordan state her belief in the judiciary committee, the Constitution, and the belief that the President's actions violated the Constitution.

While not named in the text of the book, Barbara Jordan's lifelong companion, psychologist Nancy Earl, appears in an illustration. In the Author's Note, which includes an extensive timeline, the role Earl played in Jordan's life is made clear.