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Vernon can read! : a memoir / Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. ; with Annette Gordon-Reed.

By: Jordan, Vernon E. (Vernon Eulion), 1935-.
Contributor(s): Gordon-Reed, Annette.
Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Public Affairs, c2001Edition: 1st ed.Description: viii, 344 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.ISBN: 189162069X; 9781891620690.Subject(s): Jordan, Vernon E. (Vernon Eulion), 1935- | African Americans -- Biography | African American political activists -- Biography | African American lawyers -- Biography | African American civil rights workers -- Biography | African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century | Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century | National Urban League -- Biography | Atlanta (Ga.) -- BiographyAdditional physical formats: Online version:: Vernon can read!; Online version:: Vernon can read!DDC classification: 323.092 | B
Contents:
My Mother's Son -- At Home in the World -- DePauw -- Chicago Interlude -- Howard Law School -- Mr. Hollowell -- Ms. Hurley and the NAACP -- The Dollar and the Ballot -- A World Opened Wide -- Building Blocks -- Building Bridges -- At the Helm -- Endurance -- American Dream, American Reality -- Family Matters.
Summary: The civil rights leader, attorney, and former head of the National Urban League recounts his boyhood in segregated Atlanta, his career, and the social changes he helped to bring about.
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Item type Current location Call number Status Date due Barcode
Book University of Texas At Tyler
Stacks - 3rd Floor 		E185.97 .J78 A3 2001 (Browse shelf) Available 0000001527324

Includes index.

The civil rights leader, attorney, and former head of the National Urban League recounts his boyhood in segregated Atlanta, his career, and the social changes he helped to bring about.

My Mother's Son -- At Home in the World -- DePauw -- Chicago Interlude -- Howard Law School -- Mr. Hollowell -- Ms. Hurley and the NAACP -- The Dollar and the Ballot -- A World Opened Wide -- Building Blocks -- Building Bridges -- At the Helm -- Endurance -- American Dream, American Reality -- Family Matters.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

While on summer break in 1955 from DePauw University, Jordan worked as a chauffeur for Robert Maddox, the racist president of the First National Bank of Atlanta. Maddox was dumbfounded to discover that Jordan could do more than drive that "Vernon can read." Jordan, most recently an informal adviser to President Clinton, presents an engaging memoir of his arduous yet successful struggle to claim the African American dream. The most entertaining chapters discuss a childhood molded by church, school, and family, especially his mother and "greatest friend," Mary Jordan. The chapters on his rising civil rights career, which include being a young attorney for the NAACP during the University of Georgia desegregation, serving as head of the United Negro College Fund, and following the legendary Whitney Young as chief executive of the National Urban League, are sprinkled with insights. These include the low priority given to African American concerns by Presidents Carter and Reagan and the observation that Northern whites are often more secretive and less trustworthy about their racial views than Southern whites. The power of this biography derives from Jordan's honesty and the simple elegance of his writing. Reminiscent of John Lewis's Walking with the Wind (LJ 5/15/98), this book is highly recommended for all public libraries. Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Annette Gordon-Reed grew up in east Texas. She majored in History at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1981, and then attended Harvard Law School. Gordon-Reed worked as an associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel and was Counsel to the New York City Board of Corrections before becoming a professor of law at New York Law School in 1992. <p> Gordon-Reed wrote the book Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy after first becoming interested in the president as a child. She co-authored Vernon Can Read!: A Memoir and wrote Race on Trial: Law and Justice in American History. Gordon-Reed is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Hemingses of Monticello. <p> (Bowker Author Biography)

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