Indian leader in state dies /
Thomasina Jordan was rights activist
Tuesday, May 25, 1999
BY BETTY BOOKER
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
Dr. Thomasina "Red Hawk Woman" Jordan, a civil
rights activist and a spiritual leader for Virginia's
American Indians, died Sunday in Alexandria
Hospital after a long battle with cancer.
Some 200 miles away, at a Monacan Indian Nation
gathering at Elon in Amherst County, two eagle
feathers fell from a dancer's regalia at 3 p.m., the
time of her death.
One fallen feather, Indians said, symbolizes the death of a great person; two
feathers symbolize the death of a very great person. Two hours later those at
the gathering learned of Dr. Jordan's death.
Dr. Jordan was chairwoman of the Virginia Council on Indians, a
gubernatorial advisory board on matters affecting the state's eight recognized
tribes.
She came of age during the '60s and '70s civil rights movement and
transferred her experience as national chairwoman of the American Indian
Cultural Exchange and co-chairwoman of the American Indian Alliance to
lead Virginia's Indians into an increasingly cohesive political force.
Recurring battles with cancer didn't stop her: Two weeks ago, gripping the
podium for support, she spoke at the "trail of hope" march by Mattaponi
Indians to protest Newport News' plans to build a reservoir on the
Mattaponi River, which they regard as a sacred and historical asset of the
reservation.
Just five days before her death, she lobbied Congress from a wheelchair
pushed by the Virginia Council on Indians' members who accompanied her.
Their goal is federal and historic recognition of Virginia's tribes, which would
clear the way for tribes to apply for needed medical, educational and
housing programs.
"Indians believe that if you give your word, that's it," she once said,
describing her commitment to bettering Virginia tribal conditions and
opportunities and opposing encroachments on tribal lands.
"My daughter, Tracy, said, 'mom's like Horton, the elephant, that children's
book character: "I meant what I said, I said what I meant, an elephant's
faithful 100 percent." ' And that's the way I feel about the American Indian
people."
A member of the Wampanoag Nation on Cape Cod, where she was reared
in Sandwich, Mass., Dr. Jordan was also an honorary member of Virginia's
Nansemond and Chickahominy tribes, the latter of which she was inducted
into with her husband, D. Wendell Jordan, two weeks ago.
"She was a coalition-builder among the eight tribes because she realized that
one person doesn't get anything done, but a group does," said Dr. Danielle
Moretti-Langholtz, a College of William and Mary anthropology professor
who has been studying the Virginia Council on Indians. "She had great vision
and taught that if they worked together, they could accomplish much.
"She also taught them that you have to work within the political system, and
[she] really tried to work with Indian people to recognize and use their
voice. Her legacy will be that those who are left will continue her work,
especially getting federal recognition for Virginia Indians," Moretti-Langholtz
said.
Dr. Jordan is credited with teaching Virginia Indians how to use the political
system for Indian improvement, getting legislation passed to correct birth
certificates to identify Indians as such and to allow animal parts and feathers
in religious regalia, getting medical care donated for uninsured Indians and
starting the annual Indian conference, said Mary Belvin Wade, council
secretary.
Dr. Jordan, director of public relations for Unilux Corp., a family-owned
electrical contracting company, spent her early career as a teacher of
children with learning disabilities.
With the exception of her doctorate, her education was paid for mainly by
scholarships. She graduated from Mount St. Joseph's Academy near
Boston, a former Catholic prep school; from the former Bishop Lee College
in Boston, where she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in fine arts;
from Harvard University, where she earned a master's degree in Indian
studies; and from Catholic University, where she earned a doctorate in
special education.
She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York;
co-founded the Radio Theatre for the Blind in Massachusetts, New York
and Chicago; founded a puppet theater for autistic children; started the
American Indian Cultural Exchange to promote Indian culture abroad; and
worked with the American Indian Forum that started Indian radio stations
and broadcasts across the United States.
Her numerous awards include the National Society of the Daughters of the
American Revolution's medal of honor; a Save the Children national award
for work with American Indian nations; the Strategic Defense Command's
award for outstanding contributions to women in government and the Native
American Virginia Cultural Center's outstanding American Indian Woman of
the Year. When George Bush was elected president, she became the first
American Indian to serve in the presidential electoral college.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by a daughter, Tracy Phillips; a
stepson, Andy Jordan, both of Alexandria, and a brother, David Schwartz,
of Charlotte, N.C.
© 1999, Richmond Newspapers Inc. |
