Vernon Can Read! A Memoir

From the civil rights revolution to the halls of power, the life story of a larger-than-life American leader.

As a student in Atlanta, Vernon Jordan had a summer job driving a white banker around town. During the man's afternoon naps, Jordan passed the time reading books, a fact that astounded his boss. "Vernon can read!" the man exclaimed to his relatives. Nearly fifty years later, Vernon Jordan, long-time civil rights leader, adviser and close friend to presidents and business leaders, and one of the most charismatic figures in America, has written an unforgettable book about his life and times. It is a story that encompasses the sweeping struggles, changes, and dangers of black life during the civil rights revolution.

After attending a predominantly white college in the midwest and graduating from Howard University Law School, Jordan became involved in the civil rights movement. He led the voter education project to register black voters in the South, and was president of the National Urban League, one of the great civil rights organizations of the era, where he was instrumental in integrating American businesses and providing economic and social support to the expanding black middle class. He survived a white racist's assassination attempt and later became a pillar of America's legal, corporate, and political worlds.

But Jordan's life was shaped in his early years, and this book is also a moving testament to the family whose support and courage provided the framework for his achievements. Vernon Can Read! is a remarkable memoir of a life of courage, pride, sacrifice, style and accomplishment.

Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., one of the major civil rights figures in American history, is now a senior managing director of the investment firm Lazard Frères & Co. Annette Gordon-Reed is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School and is a professor at New York Law School. She is the author of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy. She lives in New York City.