Site of Walker Harrison Jordan's House, ca. 1919-1920

This site was once the home of Walker Harrison Jordan, who was a stenographer, author, and for fifteen months of his life, a soldier in World War I. After seeing combat in a field artillery squadron, he came home with hardened ideas about military service - and about what that service meant to the nation and other African Americans like himself.

Walker Harrison Jordan was born in Farmville, Virginia in 1890 and died there in his sixties, after leading an accomplished life. By World War I, he already had more education than most entering the military of any race. On his War History questionnaire, he listed college in 'Petersburg, Virginia' which likely was in reference to the home of Virginia State University, one of the oldest Historic Black Colleges in the United States. Though he does not mention the extent or kind of degree he earned, he lists his line of work, both before and after the war, as a 'private work' stenographer, a job which would have required a high degree of literacy and skill with a typewriter.

Whether or not his skills as a typist helped him in the military is hard to say, but he certainly did find success. Enlisting in December of 1917 (he was even keen enough to cross out the possibility that he had been inducted into the service, showing his enthusiasm), Jordan began as a private and completed as a sergeant, working in the 351st Field Artillery. In France, he saw action in Marbacke and Bois Frehaut, among others. After returning home to Farmville, he wrote extensively on his experiences of the war and how they had shaped his perspectives - "That Military service is a duty which should be legislated into the functions of every male citizen; that military training should form a rightful portion in the citizenry of the nation's manhood. Raw troops should not be sent into battle." On the topic of combat itself, he echoed many other soldiers who dwelt on William Tecumseh Sherman's famous speech on 'War is Hell' - "Sherman was right! That the softest assurance against war is entire preparedness; that war is ever at war with Civilization and the common Brotherhood of Man."

Jordan filled out his questionnaire in October of 1920, and noticeably absent from his account and discussion was any mention of race, despite having served in a segregated regiment and still living in a deeply segregated Virginia. Yet race, and what it meant in military service, was so much on Jordan's mind that he wrote his own, short treatise on it: With "Old Eph" in the Army (Not a History) a Simple Treatise on the Human Side of the Colored Soldier. In just a few dozen pages, he argues for the bravery and triumph of the African American soldiers he served alongside. The term he uses for the title - "Old Eph" - was itself a racial epithet used against African Americans at the time, though Jordan describes how the term had been coopted by his comrades in arms: "hissed then in deadliest hate; whispered now in admiration, respect, and deepest love." In some sense, his 1919 piece is a memoir, recounting interactions with French peasantry in the countryside, emphasizing above all the humanity of his fellow "colored" soldiers, describing how "Old Eph," the fighting African American, wasn't so different in his service than others, and in some ways proved even more resourceful.

Walker Harrison Jordan died in 1951, and is buried in Farmville. Not much is known about his life well after the war, though it can be assumed he remained a stenographer, or at least working in some field related to writing, for quite some time - his questionnaire alone reveals a strong desire to write his own thoughts and feelings. This son of a former slave knew his worth how to express it in writing.

Jordan, Walker Harrison. With "Old Eph" in the Army (Not a History) a Simple Treatise on the Human Side of the Colored Soldier. Self-Published, (Walker H. Jordan), Farmville, VA, 1919.

Jordan, Walker Harrison. War History Commission State of Virginia Military Service Record. Library of Virginia, Virginia War History Commission.