Samuel Reginald Jordan, Jr.

Samuel Reginald Jordan, Jr., A Lover of Freedom

May 19, 1946 - August 1, 2025

Samuel Reginald Jordan, Jr., a lifelong activist and organizer for social justice, died on August 1, 2025 at his home in Baltimore, Maryland after hospitalization for leukemia. He was most recently the executive director of both the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition and the Innovative Housing Institute, consistent with his beliefs that poverty, racism, human rights, systemic discrimination and our climate crisis were intersecting, urgent issues that could best be addressed in tandem.

Mr. Jordan was born May 19, 1946 to Annie Pearl Smith and Samuel Reginald Jordan, Sr. in East Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and grew up near Goldsboro. His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father became a postal worker after serving in the military. Once the family moved to Washington, DC in 1957, Mr. Jordan lived there and in the Baltimore region for the greater part of his life. A gifted student, he first matriculated at Georgetown University in 1963, where he began his activism in earnest with a student filibuster in support of the Civil Rights Act, then being debated in the halls of Congress. He completed his undergraduate education at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA, and after graduating with honors, remained in the area and founded a community-based liberation group, Black Arise, advising Swarthmore students during their takeover of an administration building and other political actions. There he met Fania Davis, a Swarthmore student activist, and they eloped in December 1968. The couple moved to Southern California and worked with the Black Panthers there, ultimately divorcing after the birth of their daughter, Angela Eisa.

Mr. Jordan continued his education with graduate work, enrolling at UC San Diego and later returning to Georgetown University Law Center to receive his law degree. As a young man, he traveled internationally to Cuba, Mexico, Central America, and to many other countries in later years, in solidarity with freedom movements all over the globe. He lived in Denmark in the 1980s, was a UN delegate at a world conference against racism in post-apartheid South Africa, and in Turkey, he developed enduring relationships with Kurdish peoples fighting for their independence.

An eloquent practitioner of the rhetorical arts, his encyclopedic knowledge and unswerving dedication to self-determination and justice stirred the passions of those who heard his meticulously chosen words. In his steadfast fight for the underdog and the underserved, Mr. Jordan was a strong advocate for DC Statehood, chairing the Statehood Party, and running for the DC city council. He was also a spokesperson for internationally known political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, and directed Amnesty International's death penalty abolition program. In 1994, he met Ellen Dorsey, a professor and activist for climate and human rights. They became colleagues at Amnesty, married, and later divorced. Their daughter, Anise Pearl, was born in 1998.

Mr. Jordan's activism extended into healthcare through his work as the vice chairman of the United Medical Center Foundation, and as the founder of Health Care Now. A long-term labor organizer, he unionized the faculty at the University of the District of Columbia for the National Education Association, and led an AFSCME local of approximately 5,200 members in the DC public schools. Community-based engagement was his forté, and he spearheaded a bevy of environmental justice, economic development, and youth recreation programs while in DC. Mr. Jordan taught constitutional and criminal law at the University of the District of Columbia, and supplemented his activism over the years by running a contracting and roofing company. He also briefly served as the Associate Director for Affirmative Employment Programs for the National Park Service.

While many turned away from the civil rights and freedom movements as the fervor of the '60s and '70s waned, Mr. Jordan was resolute in his work, undeterred by a 1968 conviction and prison sentence for an antiwar action. He served only a year, released early for good behavior. His activism may even have been spurred on by a life-changing event one night in 1969, when he and his then wife Fania were attacked by police in Del Mar, California. He was proud to have survived being shot in the shoulder, defending himself with his own legally owned firearm when the police trespassed into their home without a warrant. His wife likewise defended Mr. Jordan's life by grabbing the officer's arm, forcing him to empty the remaining bullets of his revolver into a wall of their home. Multiple charges against Mr. and Mrs. Jordan regarding this incident were brought repeatedly, but ultimately dropped.

Mr. Jordan's father, mother, and sister, Nettie Victoria Jordan, passed away in 2004, 2008 and 2011 respectively. Mr. Jordan is survived by several cousins, and four biological children: R. Seth Williams, adopted by Rufus and Imelda Williams of Philadelphia, PA, Angela Eisa Davis of Brooklyn, NY, Khalil Setif Jordan of Gwynn Oak, MD, son of Mavis Jackson, and Anise Pearl Jordan-Dorsey of Brooklyn, NY. Taylor and Hope Williams of Philadelphia, PA are his biological granddaughters. Mr. Jordan had one grandson, Robert Thompson of Snellviille, GA, who like his father Khalil and great-grandfather Samuel, Sr., served in the armed forces. Longtime companion Yolanda Takesian and close comrade Melvin Allen gave Mr. Jordan tremendous support throughout his life and recent illness.

His work was his great love, throwing his health and personal life into shadow. After founding the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition in 2016 to complete the Red Line project and recover its transformative economic benefits for the disenfranchised communities of the region, Mr. Jordan lived to see his goal achieved with the passage of the Transit Equity Act. The Red Line will be built thanks to his unwavering commitment to the residents of Baltimore.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition (BTEC) and the Innovative Housing Institute (IHI).