Vernon Jordan

• Born: August 15, 1935
• Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia
• Died: March 1, 2021
• Place of death: Washington, DC

Lawyer and activist

A civil rights lawyer, a presidential adviser, and a respected member of corporate boards, Jordan excelled in ensuring civil rights for African Americans.

Early Life

Vernon Eulion Jordan, Jr., was the second son of Vernon, Sr., and Mary Belle Griggs. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Great Depression, Jordan grew up in a comfortable, secure, and ambitious family that instilled in him confidence and conviction. Jordan looked up to his brother Warren, fourteen years older, and was the constant companion of his brother Windsor, two years younger.

Jordan learned much from the people around him. His mother’s business interests and involvement in community leadership and political activities were tremendous influences that left lasting impressions. Active in school, church, and community, Jordan developed an interest in politics and public speaking. During high school, Jordan entered and won several speaking contests, and he determined that someday he would make an oratorical impact.

Spending his undergraduate years in college at DePauw University in Indiana, Jordan excelled in debate. Upon graduation in 1957, he worked in Chicago as a bus driver and contemplated the path he would take in life. Many had predicted that he would become a preacher, and he considered going to the seminary. However, he also wanted to become a lawyer, specializing in civil rights. He agonized about this decision before deciding to enroll at Howard University Law School, which he considered the preeminent institution for the study of civil rights. Jordan subsequently was deeply affected by the news of his parents’ divorce after twenty-eight years of marriage. In 1958, during his second year in law school, Jordan married Shirley Yarbrough, and the following year his daughter, Vickee, was born.

Life’s Work

After graduating in 1960, Jordan joined his wife in Atlanta and took a position with the Legal Defense Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In this position, Jordan was involved in two high-profile legal cases: the forced integration of the University of Georgia and the arrest of Martin Luther King, Jr., during the 1961 civil rights march in Georgia called the Albany Movement. Jordan failed in his first attempt to pass the Georgia bar and wondered if he could ever pass it. Soon moving on to become the NAACP field director for Georgia, Jordan directed his energy to appearances, speaking engagements, and fundraising activities throughout Georgia. In 1963, he became executive assistant director of the Southern Regional Council, where he worked with the Voter Education Project that would address the problem of low voter registration among African Americans in the South. In this same year, he took and passed the bar in the state of Arkansas. He would later be “waived” into the bar in Georgia without having to take the test again.

In 1968, as he was about to deliver a speech to the Young Men’s Christian Association in Atlanta, Jordan received word of the assassination of King. Jordan saw King’s death as a significant turning point in the civil rights movement, and he endeavored to capitalize on the important gains made in legal and business circles for the poor and disenfranchised. In 1968, Jordan, in a first for his race, became a fellow of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, using this distinction to expand the horizons of his influence. In 1970, Jordan accepted the position of executive director of the United Negro College Fund. The following year, after the sudden death of Whitney Moore Young, Jr., Jordan became the executive director of the National Urban League. Jordan subsequently joined the boards of directors of several corporations, to develop and to expand the influence of African Americans who had long been denied such positions.

During a trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana, while returning to his hotel from a speaking engagement on May 29, 1980, Jordan was shot in the back by an assailant using a high-powered rifle. Rushed to a local hospital, Jordan survived, but he spent nearly ninety days in the hospital. In 1981, Jordan resigned his position at the National Urban League and went to work as a partner at the law firm of Akin and Gump in Washington, DC. In December, 1985, Jordan’s wife, Shirley, died of complications from multiple sclerosis. Jordan married Ann Dibble Cook in 1986, and in 1987 his father died.

Jordan had met Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton some time before in Little Rock, before Clinton had become governor of Arkansas. Jordan maintained the friendship over the years, and in 1992 president-elect Clinton appointed Jordan to serve as chairman of Clinton’s transition team. Jordan was the first African American to serve in such a position. In 1992, Jordan’s mother died in a nursing home in Atlanta. The following year, Jordan was invited to give a eulogy at the funeral of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the US Supreme Court and a man Jordan considered to be an icon of the civil rights movement. In 2001, Jordan was awarded the NAACP’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal. Jordan became senior managing director of investment bank Lazard Frères in New York and senior counsel at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, and Feld in Washington, DC. He served on numerous nonprofit and corporate boards, including those of Xerox and American Express, and used his extensive network and experience to mentor young Black businesspeople to achieve positions of leadership in corporate America. Many rose to prominent positions in large companies and attributed their success to Jordan. In 2020, Jordan was featured in a PBS documentary titled Vernon Jordan: Make It Plain. He died on March 1, 2021, at the age of eighty-five.

Significance

Jordan made a significant impact as a lawyer and an activist during the civil rights period, working effectively on important legal cases and joining his colleagues who were fighting for justice and equality for all African Americans. During his tenure at the helm of the National Urban League, he improved the level of access and the inclusion of African Americans at the executive and governing levels of corporations. His eloquence made him a sought-after speaker, and he served as a mentor to many Black executives.

Bibliography

Houseworth, Lenora E. “In His Own Words: Vernon Jordan, Jr., on the Urban League, Then and Now.” Urban Influence (Summer, 2010). An interview with Jordan that includes his reflections on the National Urban League, which he headed from 1971 to 1981.

Jordan, Vernon E., Jr. Make It Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out. New York: PublicAffairs, 2008. Collection of speeches that showcases Jordan’s love of oratory.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Vernon Can Read! New York: PublicAffairs, 2001. Excellent memoir of the life of an extraordinary American; includes photographs that capture events in Jordan’s life.

Lewis, Neil A. "Vernon Jordan, Civil Rights Leader and DC Power Broker, Dies at 85." The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/us/vernon-jordan-dead.html. Accessed 29 Apr. 2021.