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Guide to the Gladys Jordan Papers
MS 104
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Table of contents
Title: Gladys Jordan papers
Collection number: MS 104
Creator:
Jordan, Gladys M.
Collection Size:
.25 linear feet (1 box)
Repository:
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Oakland, CA 94612
Abstract: Gladys Meriwether Jordan, pioneer educator and first African American woman to teach at the Emeryville High School, was born
November 16, 1910 in Boynton, Oklahoma. The Gladys Jordan papers include teaching notes, lesson plans, school study aids,
bibliographies, class handouts, brochures, attendance bulletins, and ephemera related to Jordan's work providing African American
history content for primary and secondary education.
Physical location: African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Oakland, CA 94612
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.
Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.
Permission to publish from the Gladys Jordan Papers must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.
Gladys Jordan Papers, MS 104, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.
Biography / Administrative History
Gladys Meriwether Jordan, pioneer educator and first African American woman to teach at the Emeryville High School, was born
November 16, 1910 in Boynton, Oklahoma. Her father A.L.J. Meriwether was a lawyer and surveyor. Jordan's mother, Susie Brown
Meriwether, part Muscogee and a native of Oklahoma, was a teacher and land owner due to the federal recognition of the Muscogee
Creek Nation. The family lost much of their money during the Depression while Jordan was studying at Spelman College in Atlanta.
She returned to Oklahoma and received a teaching credential to support her family. Jordan finished her studies at Langston
University in Oklahoma, then the only college in Oklahoma that admitted African American students, receiving her degree in
1941.
Jordan and her fiancé moved to Oakland, California, when he was drafted and stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco in
1942. The couple was married on February 7, 1943, before he was deployed overseas. From 1942 to 1948 Jordan worked as a time
keeper at the Oakland Naval Supply Depot. In 1940 she was hired to teach at Tompkins Elementary School, a faculty integrated
school in West Oakland. At the time there were only sixty African American teachers in the Oakland Unified School District
and few teaching or library materials on African American culture to provide students. Jordan, together with Jesse and Marcella
Ford, and Ruth and Eugene Lasartemay (founders of the East Bay Negro Historical Society), began compiling clippings, bibliographies
and other materials pertaining to African Americas for teachers to use.
Jordan earned her master’s degree in education from UC Berkeley and worked as a teacher at Tompkins Elementary School in West
Oakland, beginning in 1958, and later at Santa Fe Elementary in North Oakland. She was in constant search for African American
history content for primary and secondary education and developed classes on Social and Negro History for Contra Costa College.
At Emeryville High School she was the first African American woman to teach, and worked there from 1966 until her retirement
in 1975. She was awarded “Teacher of the Year” in 1974. Students of her Emeryville High School Negro History class would go
on to join the Black Panther Party.
Jordan was also active as a trustee on the board of the African American Museum and Library at Oakland, and participated in
the Alameda-Contra Costa chapter of The Links, Inc., an international black women's cultural and educational charity organization;
as president of the Alpha Kappa Alpha, the country's oldest black sorority, and as chapter president of the Alpha Nu Omega
chapter from 1955-1957; and with the California Council of Negro Women. In 2009, Jordan was awarded the Regional Award of
the Women of Greatness Awards during the Ronald V. Dellums First Annual Model City Summit on Women.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Gladys Jordan papers include teaching notes, lesson plans, school study aids, bibliographies, class handouts, brochures,
attendance bulletins, and ephemera related to Jordan's teaching career. The papers also include Jordan's notes on the 1966
California Reading Association of the International Reading Association conference. The papers are organized in three series:
I. Teaching handouts and notes II. Student letters III. Assorted teaching materials. The bulk of the teaching handouts and
notes series includes Jordan's complete lesson plans and class handouts for the Social and Negro History course she taught
at Contra Costa College.
Series I. Teaching handouts and notes Series II. Student letters Series III. Assorted teaching materials
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
African American children--Education--History--20th century.
African American women teachers.
Education, Primary--California--Oakland.
Multicultural education--California--Oakland.
Youth--Education--California--Oakland.