In the summers between his years at Depauw University, Vernon Jordan worked for a wealthy white man named Robert Maddox, truly a product of his generation, as a chauffeur and butler. While reading in Maddox’s library one afternoon, Maddox walked in and asked what Vernon was doing. When Vernon replied that he was reading, Maddox stated that he had never had any niggers that could read work for him. Vernon said that not only was he going to college, he was going to be a lawyer. Maddox, baffled replied “niggers can’t be lawyers.” Vernon thought the matter was closed, until later that evening while eating dinner with his family, Maddox announced that “Vernon can read.” The story goes that when Vernon was escorting Char layne Hunter to the front steps of the University of Georgia after the college was segregated, Maddox was asked if he knew who the tall man was walking with Ms. Hunter on the television.
When told that it was his old butler, Vernon Jordan, Maddox said “I always knew that nigger was up to no good.” Vernon Jordan was born in Atlanta with a middle class upbringing. His father, a war veteran, worked in the Post Office. His mother began working as most black women did, in the kitchens of white people. She eventually opened up her own successful catering business. His parents would divorce, however, due to his mother’s feminist ic attitudes. It was his mother’s drive for him that kept him on the path to greatness that he would eventually walk down.
The Essay on "My Mother Never Worked" By Bonnie Smith-Yackel
Women in today’s society have a much louder voice; meaning they have more respect, and are greatly appreciated for what they do, compared to Yackel’s 1975 essay. Bonnie Smith-Yackel’s essay makes a statement about how society values, and appreciates women and the way they work dating back to the 1920’s. Most things having to do with women working or anybody for that matter ...
It was also because of his mother’s job that made him want to be an attorney; she catered the lunches of Atlanta’s white lawyer associations and Vernon would often attend these luncheons as a waiter.
