Oral history interview with Pat Jordan, 1999

Biographical Note

Patricia (Pat) Jordan was born in 1937 to a Missourian mother and an Iowan father. The oldest of four children, Jordan moved from Minnesota to Sioux City, Iowa at age six. At age thirteen, she moved again to Laclede County, Missouri. After graduating from Lebanon High School in 1955, Jordan relocated to St. Louis. In 1959, she joined the St. Louis branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After moving into the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in 1960, Jordan became involved in the tenant council and the 5th Ward Independent Democrats. Jordan encountered Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) through the Jefferson Bank Demonstration, and soon became a community organizer and secretary. Jordan volunteered at St. Louis CORE from 1963 until 1967. She attended Forest Park Community College and Webster University, where she received her bachelor's in psychology. She also attended the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. In 1967, she relocated to Eminence, Missouri, where she became involved in community organizing around housing, health, and environmental concerns

Scope and Contents

Pat Jordan begins her interview with recollections from young adulthood. Throughout the interview, Jordan describes the challenges faced by poor, rural-based youth in Missouri and across the country. She shares anecdotes of sexist and classist treatment in Lebanon High School to illustrate the social dynamics in 1950s Missouri. Jordan gives special attention to the areas of Laclede County. Jordan speaks of her early interest in agriculture and the stigma around it within her high school. Jordan chronicles her move to St. Louis, where she joined the NAACP. Jordan recalls the NAACP's picket of White Castle, the help of NAACP activist Pearlie Evans in securing her housing at Pruitt-Igoe in 1960, and her involvement in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. She describes how she joined CORE in 1963 and the work she did there until 1967. Jordan recalls the changes of CORE in the late 1960s, including the election of W. Charles Ray Howard and the Oakland Conference in 1967. Jordan explains what led her to leave the group and her decision to move to Eminence, Missouri. For the rest of the interview, Jordan describes her life after 1967, including her employment with the Citizen's Equal Rights Alliance. She also describes community uplift efforts within St. Louis. Jordan describes the courses she took at Forest Park Community College and Webster University, as well as her love of history. Other topics of discussion include: Maslow's hierarchy of needs; community gardening and agriculture; truck and service car strikes; and Jordan's relationship with her brother. The interview concludes with Jordan's accounts of FBI surveillance and the circumstances of her last two arrests

Subjects

• Civil rights demonstrations--Missouri--Saint Louis.
• Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century.
• Interviews.
• Jordan, Pat--Interviews.
• Michaels, Sheila, 1939-2017, interviewer.
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
• Oral histories.
• St. Louis Committee of Racial Equality.
• United States--Race relations--History--20th century.