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| Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr |
Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr.
(born August 15, 1935) is an American business executive and civil rights
activist in the United States. A leading figure in the civil rights movement,
he was chosen by President Bill Clinton as a close adviser. Jordan has become
known as an influential figure in American politics.
Vernon
Jordan was born in Georgia to Mary Jordan and Vernon E. Jordan Sr; he has a
brother, Windsor. He is the cousin of James Shaw, a musician who is
professionally billed as The Mighty Hannibal.
Jordan
grew up with his family in Atlanta’s segregated society during the 1950s. He
was an honor graduate of David Tobias Howard High School. Rejected for a summer
intern’s job with an insurance company because of his race after his sophomore
year in college, he earned money for a few summers for college by working as a
chauffeur to former city mayor Robert Maddox, then a banker. Jordan graduated
from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1957.
He earned a law degree at Howard University School of Law in 1960. He is a
member of the Omega Psi Phi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.
Jordan
returned to Atlanta to join the law office of Donald L. Hollowell, a civil
rights activist. The firm, including Constance Motley, sued the University of
Georgia for racial discrimination in its admission policies. The suit ended in
1961 with a Federal Court order demanding the admission of two African
Americans, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton E. Holmes. Jordan personally escorted
Hunter past a group of angry white protesters to the university admissions
office.
After
leaving private law practice in the early 1960s, Jordan became directly
involved in activism in the field, serving as the Georgia field director for
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From the NAACP,
he moved to the Southern Regional Council and then to the Voter Education
Project.
In
1970 Jordan became executive director of the United Negro College Fund. He was
president of the National Urban League from 1971 to 1981.
ü Jordan is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations
and a member of the Bilderberg Group.
ü 1983, Barnard College awarded Jordan its highest honor, the Barnard
Medal of Distinction.
ü 2001, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP for
lifetime achievement.
ü 2001 – his memoir won the Best Nonfiction Book for 2001 from
the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. In 2002 it won an Anisfield-Wolf
Book Award and a Trailblazer Award from the Metropolitan Black Bar Association.
Vernon
Jordan kick started his career as a civil rights activist and he has devoted
his life and career to bringing about a change in society. The aging lawyer was
born in Georgia and earned his law degree from the Howard University School of
Law. Ever since his graduation, he knew his motive in life and till date, he’s
dedicated his life to making decisions relating to racial discrimination in
Georgia. Currently, he’s sitting on a net worth of $12 million.
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