Jordan, Vernon (Eulion), Jr (1935– )

US civil-rights leader. One of the most visible and influential civil-rights activists, he was director of the Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council 1964–68 and executive director of the United Negro College Fund (1970). As executive director of the Urban League 1971–81, he forged links between the black community and the Nixon and Carter administrations, pushed voter registration, a full employment plan, and school desegregration, and strengthened the League's traditional social service role.

He was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Although he fully recovered from a sniper attack in 1980, he left the Urban League to practice law and served on a number of major corporate boards. He played an important role as a member of President-elect Clinton's transition team in 1992.