For more than 14 years, Orchid (Ramsey) Jordan served in the Missouri House of Representatives. A Democrat living in Jackson County, MO, Jordan was heavily involved with various organizations, like the National Urban League, the Crime Prevention for the Kansas City Council, the NAACP, and.
Orchid Ramsey was born in Clay Center on August 15, 1910. She, along with her two older siblings, attended Clay Center’s elementary schools. Her parents, Merriman and Susan, were an interracial couple, which was almost unheard of at the time of their marriage in 1902. In fact, it was illegal in 26 states, including Susan’s home state of Nebraska. Their marriage was not only legal in Kansas but also deemed socially acceptable.
Since 1879, Kansas had allowed towns of more than 15,000 people to remain segregated; however, smaller towns remained integrated within schools, churches, and other activities.
Orchid’s paternal grandfather, “Washington” Harvey Ramsey, was born as a slave in Missouri. He later fought in the Civil War, before landing in Kansas, where he worked as a farm hand for 12 years, saving to buy land of his own. He purchased 30 acres along the Republican River near Wakefield, and over the next 13 years, added 100 acres of land. He had 8 children, who were considered “well educated and highly esteemed.”
Orchid’s maternal grandparents immigrated from England, listing their races as “white” in census reports.
Orchid attended Clay County Community High School her freshman year in 1924 where she was on the Promoter staff. She spent her sophomore year in Kansas City, KS, living with her uncle after Merriman died of heart failure at 45.
There she attended a segregated school and was likely discriminated against for her light skin. Orchid returned to Clay Center to study the “Normal” program, graduating in 1927. She went on to attend Wilberforce University in Ohio, a traditionally black college.
Before leaving for college, Orchid met her future husband, Leon Jordan, while visiting family in Topeka. It’s said she purchased an ice cream cone and approached a playground “to ask if anyone wanted a lick.” At the time, Jordan was attending Washburn University, but later transferred to follow Orchid. She earned a degree in elementary education in 1932, after which the pair were married in Clay Center the same year.
They moved to Kansas City where Leon taught, then became one of the town’s first black police officers, and later, a detective.
After 15 years of marriage, the pair divorced but remarried within four months. In 1947 the pair went to Liberia, where Leon “revolutionized Liberia’s police force.” Orchid took time to teach finger painting to members of the Liberian police force.
Upon their return, the pair ran various businesses, including a tavern and the Green Duck, which sold women’s accessories.
In 1964, Leon became a state representative for the 4th District of Jackson County, Mo. Listed as “the state’s most powerful black politician” by the Kansas City Star, he was assassinated six years later. In 2010 it was determined that he had been killed by Kansas City’s black mafia.
Orchid was elected to fill her husband’s seat, where she remained for 16 years. She retired in 1986 and died in 1995.
Research by Susan Hammond
Pictures: Top Orchid with Leon Jordan while he was a police officer. Middle: Orchid with goods from the Green Duck. Left: an image of Orchid speaking at the Missouri General Assembly.
