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An ordinance providing the honorary street name designation of "Dr. Harold W. Jordan Way" for a portion of Morena Street.
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WHEREAS, Dr. Harold W. Jordan was an exemplary public servant, a leading physician and the first Black commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Jordan decided to continue the legacy of his grandfather and great-grandfather, who were the first Black physicians in Coweta County, Georgia and Houston, Texas, respectively; and
WHEREAS, after completing his studies at Morehouse College, he entered Meharry Medical College in Nashville in 1958; and
WHEREAS, in 1959, Dr. Jordan met his future wife, Geraldine Crawford, as they were evacuated from a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after a bomb threat at Fisk University; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Harold Jordan and Geraldine Crawford were joined in married on June 17, 1962, and had four children, Harold II, Vincent Andre, Karen Dorothy Nicole, and Kristi Yvette; and
WHEREAS, after completing his residency in internal medicine at Meharry Medical College, Dr. Jordan accepted a psychiatry residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, becoming the first Black physician and resident in Vanderbilt's history; and
WHEREAS, upon completing his residency, he returned to Meharry Medical College, where he was named an assistant professor and director of the Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic. Dr. Jordan served in several capacities at Meharry Medical College before serving as assistant commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health for four years under Governor Winfield Dunn; and
WHEREAS, in 1975, Dr. Harold Jordan became Tennessee's first Black Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, and a state building, the Harold W. Jordan Habilitation Center, was eventually named in his honor; and
WHEREAS, he later served as a longtime chair of the Department of Psychiatry and as acting dean of Meharry Medical College and maintained a clinical appointment at...
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