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Letter to the editor

Paradise lost, he sought black family's roots

His pampered childhood in St. Petersburg was swept away by the Depression and racism.

By STEPHANIE HAYES, Times Staff Writer
Published January 24, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - William Jordan's hometown was always on his mind.

His grandfather was Elder Jordan Sr., one of St. Petersburg's black pioneers. The Jordan Park housing complex and the old Jordan Park Elementary School bear the family name.

His grandfather came to St. Petersburg in 1904, and purportedly buried money in the woods around his farm. His family owned acres of land, a beach resort and a luxury bus line.

In St. Petersburg, Mr. Jordan's life was paradise.

"He lived a really pampered existence," said his daughter, Cheryl Jordan, who lives in New York. "I saw a few pictures. I would tell Dad, 'You're really well dressed. You look like one of the Rockefeller kids.'"

He remembered his favorite sandwich - mayonnaise and pineapple - and smoking his grandmother Mary's corncob pipe. He remembered riding his uncle's bus. "Hello, Willie," the driver would say. An attendant would seat him in the front row.

But in the segregated South, violence raged. His mother, a Seminole Indian named Fannie Mae, witnessed a mob lynching. And Mr. Jordan's wealthy uncle had become a target for assassination.

The family influence could no longer protect Mr. Jordan, then 7. So one night in 1929, against her husband's wishes, Fannie Mae hired a driver, loaded belongings into a car and took her son to New Jersey.

"I remember leaving that night, and I was so sad to go," he told the St. Petersburg Times in 1997. "But I really didn't know the reason why."

Paradise was gone. The stock market crashed, leaving the family poor. Mr. Jordan collected coal around railroad tracks in the snow. His mother worked 18-hour days while Mr. Jordan dressed himself and made his own meals.

Later, he joined the military and worked for the National Conference of Christians and Jews in New York. He had little contact with St. Petersburg.

"He was always interested in his history and the Jordans," said Cheryl Jordan, 60. "They're such an interesting family. He never truly understood them."

In 1987, he came to Tampa for a conference. It was his chance to meet with librarians, search property records and visit with family members who offered connections to his past. He wanted to bolster his memories.

But it wasn't easy. Early records were a mess, and blacks had been excluded from many historical accounts, he said.

"I borrowed and read a history of St. Petersburg, and it mentioned nothing in terms of specific contributions by blacks, except a paragraph about Jordan Park," he told the Times in 1987. "And it didn't even say where the name came from."

He left with some oral accounts and his memories. Mr. Jordan died Jan. 12 in New York after a long battle with diabetes. He was 86.

Stephanie Hayes can be reached at shayes@sptimes.com or 727 893-8857.

BIOGRAPHY

William Jordan

Born: April 21, 1921.

Died: Jan. 12, 2008.

Survivors: children, Cheryl Jordan, Avrile Camberlain and Bruce McKinley Jordan; granddaughter, Ingrid Jordan Nkongho, and her husband, Drew; companion, Emily Styckynski.

[Last modified January 23, 2008, 23:07:05]