This week in Black history

Jet, Nov 18, 2002

November 15, 1979--

Arthur Lewis, a professor at Princeton University, was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics on this day. He became the first Black to receive the award in a category other than peace. Author of 12 books and scores of articles, Lewis was an authority on economic growth and political and social change in emerging nations. He taught economic development and economic history. Born in St. Lucia in 1915, Lewis was educated at the University of London, where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1937 and doctorate in 1940. He taught there and the University of Manchester and after some time was named vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1959. Queen Elizabeth later knighted Lewis in 1963, the same year he joined Princeton's faculty. He served 20 years there before he retired in 1983. Lewis died June 15, 1991, at age 76.

November 17, 1972--

Barbara Jordan, politician, won a seat in the U.S. Congress on this day. Rep. Jordan became the first Black and first woman to be elected to Congress from Texas. In 1966, she became the first Black elected state senator in Texas. In 1974, Jordan gained attention when she called for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon during the Watergate hearings. Jordan, an eloquent speaker, was the first Black woman to give a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 1976. Not wishing to seek re-election to Congress, she taught at the University of Texas in 1978. Jordan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. She died in Austin, TX, in 1996 of leukemia. Last year the Austin City Council approved a sculpture of Barbara Jordan to be placed in the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at the Barbara Jordan Passenger Terminal in Austin. The 7-foot-tall bronze statue, by artist Bruce Leslie Wolfe, depicts Jordan sitting in "deep thought."