Winthrop D. Jordan, Expert in the History of Race Relations in America, Is Dead at 75


By MARGALIT FOX
Published: March 8, 2007
Winthrop D. Jordan, a National Book Award-winning historian who wrote several influential works on American slavery and race relations, died on Feb. 23 at his home in Oxford, Miss. He was 75.



University of Mississippi, 2000
Winthrop D. Jordan
The cause was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, said his wife, Cora.

At his death, Dr. Jordan was emeritus professor of history and African-American studies at the University of Mississippi, where he taught from 1982 until his retirement in 2004.

Dr. Jordan’s most famous book was “White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812” (University of North Carolina, 1968). “White Over Black” was considered one of the first significant works of scholarship to trace the deep roots of 20th-century racial inequality, devoting particular attention to its basis in the collective psyche of the early European settlers of North America.

Reviewing the book in The New York Times Book Review, the historian C. Vann Woodward wrote, “In seeking out the origins, meaning and explanation of Negro debasement in America, Mr. Jordan has tackled one of the most abstruse, subtle, tangled, controversial and certainly one of the most important problems of American history.”

“The result,” he added, “is a massive and learned work that stands as the most informed and impressive pronouncement on the subject yet made.”

“White Over Black” received a National Book Award for history and biography. It also won a Bancroft Prize, awarded by Columbia University for the best books of the year in American history and international relations.

Dr. Jordan won a second Bancroft Prize for “Tumult and Silence at Second Creek: An Inquiry Into a Civil War Slave Conspiracy.” The book chronicled a planned slave rebellion in Mississippi in 1861 and its aftermath, in which the revolt was thwarted and more than two dozen slaves were hanged.

Winthrop Donaldson Jordan was born on Nov. 11, 1931, in Worcester, Mass., the son of Henry Donaldson Jordan, a professor of history at Clark University, and Lucretia Mott Churchill, a great-great-granddaughter of the abolitionists James and Lucretia Mott. Disinclined at first to follow in his father’s field, Winthrop Jordan earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1953; his major — a gentle act of rebellion — was not history but social relations.

“My undergraduate background meant that my approach to history was strongly influenced by the social sciences of the early 1950s,” Dr. Jordan wrote in a recent autobiographical essay posted on the Web site History News Network (www.hnn.us). “More particularly, I aimed to understand the large component of emotion and indeed irrationality that characterized the attitudes of the white majority toward ‘Negroes’ in this country.”

His career as an academic was briefly delayed, however, when, after graduating from Harvard, he went to work as a management trainee at the Prudential Life Insurance Company. Having quickly realized that gray flannel suits were not for him, he then took a job teaching history at Phillips Exeter Academy. The lack of a degree in the field was no impediment: he had soaked up more than enough history at the dinner table.

He earned a master’s degree in Colonial American history from Clark in 1957 and a Ph.D. in the field from Brown University in 1960. In 1963, Dr. Jordan joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught until 1982.

Dr. Jordan’s first marriage, to Phyllis Henry, ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife, the former Cora Miner Reilly, whom he married in 1982; a brother, Edwin C., of Kennett Square, Pa.; three sons from his first marriage, Joshua, of Davis, Calif.; Mott, of Santa Cruz, Calif.; and Eliot, of Berkeley; three stepchildren, Michael Reilly of New York; Steven Reilly of Greeneville, Tenn.; and Mary Beth Conklin of Atlanta; five grandchildren; and five step-grandchildren.

His other books include “The White Man’s Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States” and, with the historian Leon F. Litwack, “The United States,” a college textbook.

In a telephone interview, Ira Berlin, a historian at the University of Maryland who is the author of many books about slavery and race, discussed the enduring significance of Dr. Jordan’s work, in particular “White Over Black.”

“It’s directed toward a question of signal importance, that remains of signal importance: What is the nature of race?” Dr. Berlin said. “And his book in some ways is kind of ground zero for understanding that.”

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Archambault, Leonard Wilfred

LENOX -- Leonard Wilfred Archambault, 82, of Devonshire Estates, formerly of Oxford Street, Pittsfield, died Wednesday at Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. He had resided at Devonshire for 14 months.

Born in Pittsfield on March 7, 1925, son of Roland P. and Marie Paulhus Archambault, he graduated from Dalton High School in 1943.

A World War II veteran of the Marine Corps, he served from March 5, 1943, to June 4, 1946, and was discharged with the rank of staff sergeant.

An insurance agent, Mr. Archambault worked for Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. from 1955 to 1980. After his retirement, he worked part time at the former City Savings Bank in the life insurance department from 1986 to 1989. Following his military duty, he worked at the former Brookshire Ford car dealership.

He was a member of Charles A. Persip American Legion Post 68, where he served as post commander from 1985 to 1986 and as adjutant and finance officer at various times. A supporter of the legion's Boys State Program, he was chairman of both the Post 68 and District 1 Boys State committees and vice chairman and chairman of the Department of Massachusetts Boys State Committee. In 2006, he was recognized for 60 years of continuous legion membership.

He also was a longtime member and former president of Berkshire Coin Club. He was active with the Pittsfield Squares and Berkshire Archaeological Group. He photographed the progress of urban development in Pittsfield over the past two decades and presented a public slide program. He also enjoyed playing golf, woodworking, gardening and camping.

He and his wife, the former Clara C. Masino, were married May 6, 1950, at All Souls' Church.

Besides his wife, he leaves a son, Marc L. Archambault of Claremont, Calif.; a daughter, Donna M. Drew of Great Barrington; a brother, Paul E. Archambault of Dalton; a sister, Elaine Boyd of North Eastham; and two granddaughters.

FUNERAL NOTICE -- The funeral for Leonard Wilfred Archambault, who died Wednesday, March 7, 2007, will be conducted Monday, March 12, at 11 a.m. at DERY FUNERAL HOME by the Rev. Geoffrey J. Deeker, CCS, pastor of All Souls' Church. Burial will follow in St. Joseph's Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Post 68's Boys State Fund, in care of the funeral home, 54 Bradford St., Pittsfield, MA 01201, or to HospiceCare in the Berkshires, 369 South St., Pittsfield. Mr. Archambault also leaves his son-in-law, Bernard A. Drew; his daughter-in-law, Amy McGough; two granddaughters, Jessie and Darcie Drew; and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by a brother, Robert Archambault, in 1991. Mr. Archambault took great interest in a family link with the early history of Montreal, Quebec, where Jacques Archambault's 1658 well in d'Youville is a historical site. Mr. Archambault and his family especially appreciated the care and support of the HospiceCare staff and volunteers.