Black History Month Profiles: Barbara Jordan and Benny Medina

Black History Month is observed every February to commemorate the important people and momentous events in African-American history. Hotspots honors Black History Month by profiling black LGBT people who have made noteworthy achievements in their personal or professional lives.

Barbara Jordan
(February 21, 1936 - January 17, 1996)

Barbara Jordan was born and raised in the Fifth Ward of Houston, Texas. Her parents were a Baptist preacher and a church teacher. She attended Texas Southern University, where she excelled in debate. She pursued a law degree at Boston University, after hearing a speech by esteemed lawyer Edith Sampson which inspired her. She returned to Houston a year after graduating from law school and started her own practice. She then set her sights on serving her state as a politician.

In 1966, she was elected to the Texas Senate, becoming the first black woman to be elected to the state legislature. She was also the first black woman to serve as president pro tempore of the Texas Senate, and was acting governor of Texas for one day (June 10, 1972). To date, she is the only black female to serve as governor of a U.S. state (even if for just one day). In 1972, she was elected to serve Texas's 18th district in the House of Representatives. She became the first black woman from a Southern state to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

In 1973, she took a seat on the House Judiciary Committee and was appointed to the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in 1975. She was in the running to become Jimmy Carter's running mate in the 1976 presidential election; he instead chose Walter Mondale of Minnesota. She delivered a keynote speech at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, becoming the first black woman to do so.

Jordan dealt with a number of physical struggles during her eventful life. In 1973, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and her partner Nancy Earl helped care for her when necessary. In 1979, she left Congress and became an ethics in law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. She would return to the Democratic National Convention to give another keynote speech in 1992. By the time Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States in 1993, he wanted to nominate Jordan to the Supreme Court, but she was severely ill from multiple sclerosis as well as leukemia. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. Barbara Jordan died in Austin, Texas on January 17, 1996, at the age of 59.

Benny Medina
(born January 24, 1958)

Benny Medina was interested in music from a young age, and his friendship with Kerry Gordy, son of Motown Records executive Berry Gordy, helped further his dreams. While he was still attending Beverly Hills High School, the senior Gordy, who had become a mentor to Medina, asked him to move in to his house with his family. The basic plot of the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air came from this arrangement (Medina was the manager of actor Will Smith at the time).

He started his career in music with the group Apollo, which also featured Kerry Gordy. They released their first album in 1979, and after an initial flurry of interest, the band did not achieve widespread popularity and their second album deal was pulled. Gordy wanted to keep Medina on the roster, however, and in 1983 he was named head of artists and repertoire for Motown Records. He would produce albums for The Temptations, Teena Marie, Rick James, and Smokey Robinson, among others.

After becoming very successful at Motown, Warner Bros. Records stole him away to become the head of artists and repertoire there, and to cultivate their urban music acts. At Warner Bros., he worked with artists such as Queen Latifah, Naughty by Nature, De La Soul, Prince, Chaka Khan and Babyface. He went on to specialize in management and production when he left Warner Bros. to form the group Medina/Pollack Entertainment with Jeff Pollack. He would manage the careers of supermodel Tyra Banks, singers Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Brandy, Usher, and Sean "Diddy" Combs. Medina was instrumental in crafting Banks's transition to "catalogue" modeling, her promotion to Victoria's Secret Angel, and her television empire (America's Next Top Model, Tyra). He was also instrumental in launching Combs's fashion line, and helped propel Jennifer Lopez to music stardom, all the while furthering her acting career, producing films such as Maid in Manhattan.

After he helped to promote Jennifer Lopez to international music superstar, Lopez also wanted to work in production. The two founded Nuyorican Productions in 2001, and the company has produced such movies as Bordertown and such television series as South Beach Tow, The Fosters, and Jennifer Lopez's new NBC drama Shades of Blue. Due to his many projects, his net worth is estimated at $20 million.