DeWitt Jordan Jr. (1932–1977)

DeWitt Jordan Jr. was an African American artist raised in Helena (Phillips County), known for his paintings that detailed the life of Black residents of the Delta, as well as images of everyday life. His work is preserved in collections across the South.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 14, 1932, Jordan moved to Helena as a child with his parents and two brothers. His mother, Frank Ella Jordan, operated a funeral home, while his father, DeWitt Jordan Sr., worked at a number of businesses, including farming and another funeral home. Jordan spent many hours in the funeral home, and it is reported that he learned to draw and paint human figures from studying the bodies housed there before burial.

Growing up in segregated Helena impacted Jordan, and his later artwork showed Black and white Southerners engaged in various endeavors that were typical of the riverside town. After graduating from Eliza Miller High School in 1951, he continued his education at Tennessee State University and Central State College in Ohio. He then moved to California and studied at the California School of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco State University, and Chouinard Art Institute. He also worked for a short time as a sketch artist for Warner Bros. Studios.

Many of Jordan’s works focus on images of life in the South, with paintings of steamboats, depictions of workers in cotton fields, and portraits of various Southerners, both famous and common. In the mid-1960s, he created a mural that stretched twenty feet and stood four feet tall that was hung at the First Tennessee Bank in 1985. Titled A Mural of Memphis, it chronicled the entire history of the city to the 1960s. Jordan created numerous pieces for developer Harry Bloomfield, including A Mural of Memphis and Cotton Landing at Memphis, which was displayed in a Holiday Inn near the Mississippi River. Bloomfield personally owned several paintings, including Birth of the Blues, which depicted several Black musicians. Jordan sold at least one piece to Bloomfield for $3,500 in 1964 and four years later claimed to make about $15,000 annually by selling paintings.

While some praised Jordan’s painting, others saw his depictions of African Americans in the South as steeped in caricature. Jordan acknowledged these complaints but responded by stating that he simply painted the South that he knew and grew up in. He further explained that many of his works were purchased by white patrons, while few African Americans were interested in buying paintings. He argued that, by painting these images, he created a market in which patrons of the arts would support his work.

His behavior while painting was seen by some as strange, as he often worked while nude, drinking scotch, and listening to classical music. While Jordan supported himself and his family with his work, he said that did not expect to become famous until after his death.

Jordan was killed on October 9, 1977, in Memphis. He was a resident of Eads, Tennessee, at the time of his death, and the circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear. While at the home of his girlfriend Connie Gidwani (a white woman), Jordan reportedly became involved in an argument with her over the fact that Jordan wanted to travel to eastern Tennessee to marry Gidwani but was still married to his wife, Janet. Sometime during the argument, Gidwani’s brother, Jimmy Edwards, shot Jordan in the forehead, killing him. Upon the arrival of the police, Edwards and Gidwani were arrested, although Gidwani was released a short time later. Edwards reportedly claimed that Jordan threatened him with a hammer, although other witnesses present said that Jordan was unarmed. Gidwani claimed that the gun fired accidentally and that no fight was taking place. Edwards was eventually convicted of killing Jordan. After being released from prison in 1993, he died in 2016.

Jordan and his wife Janet had four sons and one daughter. Jordan is buried in Jackson Cemetery in Southland (Phillips County).

For additional information:
Cook, K. W. “City’s History Comes Alive in Artistic Manner.” Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 23, 1968, Section 2, p. 11.

———. “We Have a New Day.” Memphis Commercial Appeal, Sunday Mid-South Magazine, June 16, 1968, pp. 6–9.

“Jordan.” Commercial Appeal, October 12, 1977, p. 49.

La Badie, Donald. “Mural of City History Takes the Broad View.” Memphis Commercial Appeal, December 12, 1985, pp. C1, C2.

McKindra, Frederick. “‘Layers of Paint That Build and Build and Build’: Remembering the Life of Arkansas Artist Dewitt Jordan.” Arkansas Times, March 2025, pp. 66–71. Online at https://arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025/03/17/hell-man-thats-the-south-remembering-the-life-of-arkansas-artist-dewitt-jordan (accessed November 20, 2025).

Pittman, Kay. “Arkansas Negro’s Painting Purchased for a Top Price.” Memphis Press-Scimitar, July 3, 1964, p. 18.

Vancil, Paul. “Noted Memphis Artist Dies of Gunshot Wound.” Memphis Press-Scimitar, October 10, 1977, pp. 1, 8.

Wright, Jerome. “Noted Artist Slain During Argument.” Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 10, 1977, pp. 1, 10.

David Sesser
Southeastern Louisiana University