Willie C. Jordan Jr.
High School: Link to High School
Willie C. Jordan Jr. entered UT in 1956.
Willie Cleveland Jordan, Jr. was born December 12, 1937 to Willie Cleveland Jordan and Bernadine Butler Jordan in the 5th Ward of Houston, Texas. He attended Phillis Wheatley High School and graduated in 1956. As a young person, Jordan showed great creativity and artistic skill. His high school Industrial Arts teacher Mr. James Thomas encouraged him to purse studies and a career in architecture. Jordan received a Worthing Trust Scholarship to further his studies and in September 1956 joined the first Black undergraduate class at the University of Texas.
Willie Jordan, Jr. and several other incoming Houston freshman from Phillis Wheatley High School and Jack Yates Senior High School rode the bus together to Austin for the first time. None of their parents accompanied them. They came alone, but they recalled not feeling afraid at the time. “I can’t answer why we weren’t afraid. We didn’t seem to be afraid. We knew we were going into some strange territory, but since we hadn’t been there before we wouldn’t have known how to act,” said Jordan.
When their bus arrived in Austin, the Houston freshman had to make find their way to the dorms on their own. A taxi driver from Roy’s Taxis, a Mexican American taxi service that served segregated Austin, picked up the recent arrivals and oriented them to their new campus. When the driver dropped off Jordan at the San Jacinto dormitories, Jordan was shocked. “It wasn’t really housing, but dilapidated, unpainted military barracks […] with floors so rough that if you didn’t wear house shoes, you would get splinters in your feet,” recalled Jordan.
Jordan lived in San Jacinto Dorm D and also served as a resident counselor there. His family recalled sending him packages of Vienna sausages, spam, and potted meats, not realizing until later, that there was nowhere for him to eat on campus when the campus cafeterias were closed on weekends, since the Guadalupe Street “drag” and other Austin-based eateries were all segregated.
Jordan paused his degree studies at the University to serve in the United States Army Reserve, but returned to complete his studies in architecture, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Architecture in the Spring of 1963. Jordan was also civically engaged, participating, among other activities, in stand-ins on “the drag” with other UT students. He was one of the Black students who was disciplined by University officials for his involvement in the Kinsolving Dormitory integration sit-in protests Oct. 19, 1961. This helped bring about full integration in all aspects of the University of Texas in May 1964.
After graduating, Jordan received his worked under the mentorship of John Saunders Chase, who was among the first Black graduate students to enroll at UT in the summer of 1950, and who became the first licensed Black architect in Texas. Jordan was the third Black licensed architect in the state.
Jordan co-found Haywood Jordan McCowan Architects and Planners of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, helping to design major public and private building projects, residential homes, including his own, all across Texas including: Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston, Independent School District, H & PE Building at Texas Southern University, Beulah Shepard Acres Homes Library in Houston, Smiley High School, the Barbara Jordan Post Office, the City of Houston Fire Station 31, and many others. Jordan’s firm was an incubator and training-ground for the next generations of Black and minority architects and entrepreneurs that followed in his footsteps. Jordan was involved in the American Institute of Architects, the National Organization of Minority Architects, Black Organization for Leadership Development and the Phillis Wheatley High School Alumni Association.
Over the years Jordan stayed connected with his undergraduate Black classmates and alumni. He is credited by them as the person who coined the name for their collective, calling themselves, “the dudes.” They later changed the group’s name to be more inclusive, the Precursors. This alumni organization has done work to honor the legacy of UT’s first Black students and their subsequent generations who have integrated the University of Texas and to help raise scholarships for Black students at UT. Jordan served as a founding member of the Precursors Inc. in 2010, and worked actively on the board. He brought his architectural skills, vision, and insight, playing a key role in the design of the We Are Texas commemoration, the last major project he was involved with before he passed away on October 4, 2025.
Jordan was one of 12 children in his family, and the oldest brother. All of his siblings followed in his footsteps and went to college. He was married to Carolyn Ellis Jordan for 45 years and had two sons.
Willie Cleveland Jordan, Jr. was interviewed for the Precursors Oral History Project for the UT Campus Contextualization and Commemoration on Nov. 12, 2022.