What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government should do everything and the idea, the belief, that government ought to do nothing. Strike a balance.

Re-elected to a full term in the Texas Senate in 1968 Barbara Jordan served until 1972. At Texas Southern University Barbara Jordan pledged Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Her persistence won her a seat in the Texas Senate in 1966 becoming the first African American state senator since 1883 and the first black woman to serve in that body.

On her death Barbara Jordan became the first African-American woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom among numerous other honors. She was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first southern black female elected to the United States House of Representatives.