NAACP Prepares to Honor Vernon Jordan '57

July 2, 2001

July 2, 2001, Greencastle, Ind. - Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. will become the second DePauw University graduate to receive the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) highest honor for achievement when he is presented the 86th Spingarn Award during the 92nd Annual NAACP Convention in New Orleans on July 12, 2001. Jordan, an attorney and civil rights leader and 1957 graduate of DePauw, follows in the footsteps of Percy L. Julian (DePauw 1920), who was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1947 for his work in chemistry.

The NAACP has announced that Jordan's award will be presented by The Rev. Dr. Gardner Calvin Taylor, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and senior pastor emeritus of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, New York.

Vernon Jordan currently serves as a senior managing director for the New York investment firm Lazard Frères & Co., and has served as president and CEO of the National Urban League.Jordan was also an adviser to Presidents Carter and Clinton. His memoir, entitled Vernon Can Read!, will be published in October.

First presented in 1915, the Spingarn Award recognizes distinguished merit and achievement among black Americans and serves as a stimulus to the ambition of African-American youth. It is named after Joel E. Spingarn, who was chairman of the NAACP when the award was initiated. The NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization.

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