The  Book Trotters, a Lakewood book club, met Monday evening at Times Ten Cellar in Lakewood to discuss “Barbara Jordan: American Hero” by Mary Beth Rogers.

Barbara Jordan was the first African American to serve in the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, and the first to deliver the keynote address at a national party convention. Yet Jordan herself remained a mystery to the public eye.

Rogers, a Dallas native, knew Jordan as a colleague at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in Austin, Texas.

In the biography, “Barbara Jordan: American Hero” Rogers skillfully weaves together the events of Jordan’s personal life with her public persona and the struggle for black voting rights in the South.

I asked hostess Jane Lampton why she chose the book for this month’s Book Trotter’s read and she responded that Jordan was a great Texan and she played such a big part in Watergate.

“We heard so much about her and then we didn’t.  Where did she go?’ Lampton asked.

The Book Trotters reminisced about Civil Rights, segregation and even recalled the distinctive sound of Jordan’s voice.

Jordan passed away on January 17, 1996, in Austin, Texas from pneumonia, a complication of her battle with leukemia.

The Book Trotters have a way of tying in food with their book selection so Lampton treated the book club member to barbecue from Lockhart’s Smokehouse and pecan pie from Emporium Pies.  Pam Thomas brought some fried okra to pair with our wine.

See you next month.