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Bishop Frederick Douglass Jordan Book Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 0000-0000-0000-0127

Scope and Contents Note

The Bishop Frederick D. Jordan Collection was originally donated to Morris Brown College by Bishop Frederick D. Jordan and included 10 books and two artifacts. It was transferred to the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library in 1981, when one library was formed to serve the Atlanta University Center Schools. The Collection consists of ten books primarily on religion and the AME church.

Dates

  • Creation: 1818-1911

Rights Statement

All materials in this collection are either protected by copyright or are the property of the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center, Inc., and/or the copyright holder as appropriate. For more information, please contact archives@auctr.edu.

Biographical/Historical Note

Bishop Fredrick Douglass Jordan (1901 August 8-1979 December 16) was a Native Atlantan. His father, D.J. Jordan was Professor and later served as Vice-President of Morris Brown College. His maternal grandfather Rev. Lawrence (Larry) Thomas was among a group of ministers who made an initial contribution for the purchase of land for the original site of Morris Brown College. The orginal Jordan-Thomas Library on the campus was named for both of these men.



Bishop Fredrick Douglass Jordan attended North Carolina A & T College and Howard University, where he met his wife, Artishia (Wilkerson) Jordan. Bishop Jordan was an active student and was a member of both Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and NAACP. He left Howard University in 1921 to attend Northwestern University, where he completed his B.A, degree in English with a double minor in economics and Greek in 1924. In 1923, Jordan became pastor of the St. Paul AME Church in Chicago Illinois. Jordan later completed his theological degree from Garrett Biblical Institute in March 1925. In 1952, Jordan was elected to the Episcopacy and ordained as the 72nd Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church at the Chicago General Conference.



Bishop Jordan served seven districts, including several in African territories during his tenure. Due to his outstanding humanitarian services and concern for youth, an elementary school in Roysville, Liberia was named in his honor.



In the early 1960's, Jordan served as president of Campbell College an AME institution that later merged with Jackson State College. Bishop Jordan served as a member of the General Board of the National Councils of the World Methodist Council, was the first black chairman of the Consultation on Church Union(COCU), and was elected the first vice president of the National Councils of Churches in 1969.



Bishop Jordan contributed frequently to Morris Brown College and in 1976, he became one of the college's largest individual donors, with the donation of $250,000 to fund the Artishia and Frederick Jordan Education Trust, which later became the Artishia and Frederick Jordan Scholarship Fund. The Fund was founded to provide scholarships to students of Morris Brown College who demonstrated financial need and academic "promise." The Jordan Scholarship Fund transitioned to serving students of Howard University in 2011.



Upon the formation of the scholarship fund, Bishop Jordan contributed artifacts including AME memorabilia, furniture pieces and books donated in the memory of Mrs. Artishia Wilkerson Jordan to the Jordan-Thomas Library Collection. Among the AME artifacts donated to Morris Brown College was a money box belonging to the founder of the AME Church, Richard Allen. The money box is now housed in the Smithsonian Museum.



Named in his honor, the Frederick D. Jordan Hall housed classrooms and the Ruth Hall Hodges Art Gallery on the campus of Morris Brown College.



For more information on Bishop Jordan, Mrs. Artishia Wilkerson Jordan or the Artishia and Frederick Jordan Scholarship Fund, please visit www.jordanscholarship.org

Extent

0.5 Linear feet

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement Note

There are 10 books in the collection. They are arranged alphabetically.

Title
Bishop Frederick Douglas Jordan Book Collection, 1818-1911
Author
Finding aid prepared by Tiffany Atwater, 2014.
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center, Inc. Repository

Contact:

404-978-2052
404-978-2109 (Fax)