By Ariele Vaccaro
Lucinda Gordon greets guests at her 100th birthday party. Photo by Ariele Vaccaro.
Mrs. Lucinda Gordon doesn’t miss a beat. During her 100th birthday bash at VMP Trinity Senior Living last week Saturday, she corrected her niece as she recited her aunt’s history.
A crowd of family members and admirers clapped when Gordon raised one finger to and confirmed that she, in fact, received her master’s degree in social work from Smith College in Massachusetts.
The centenarian spent her birthday surrounded by smiling faces, music, and expressions of gratitude for her work within Milwaukee. She even received a photo of her late husband, Grant Gordon, in his World War II military uniform.
A local choir sang familiar church songs like, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” in heart-breaking harmony. Gordon sang along.
The Chester, Pa. native has always been a lover of music and the arts. After the chorus’ final song, one singer, Carol Haywood, stayed to share a story with the audience.
She recalled a day when she got a call from Gordon, telling Haywood that she’d secured an opportunity for her to sing at the Skylight Theatre.
The only caveat: she would be singing with a jazz band. Haywood hadn’t sung a lick of jazz in her life, but she didn’t care. She was grateful for the opportunity Gordon had found.
“I became the first regular Black singer at the Skylight Theatre,” said Haywood.
A display holds several photos of Lucinda Gordon from the past. Photo by Ariele Vaccaro.
Gordon didn’t only help others create “first” moments, though. She also created her own. She was the first female secretary at the Milwaukee NAACP.
Her husband, Grant Gordon, was the first Black administrator at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) as the principal of Garfield High School.
That’s only the beginning of Gordon’s advocacy in Milwaukee. She played an integral role in the founding of the Lady Pitts, a now closed MPS alternative school for pregnant teens.
Later, Gordon would become a spokesperson for the arts in Milwaukee. She, along with Dorothy Nelle Sanders and Gloria Wright, would found the African American Art Alliance (AAAA) at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
The three would be the founders of a committee that aimed to bring the work of Black artists to Milwaukee.
To this day, the group continues the women’s work.
“She brought, back in those years, a different experience for us as Blacks in this community,” said Wright, who attended Gordon’s birthday party. “It’s been for me just a wonderful experience.”
Wright remembered her close friend, Gordon, encouraging women to attend plays, concerts, and art shows, and even asked them to bring their children.
“That’s, I think, part of what’s missing in this city now, is more people going out in the neighborhoods… knocking on the door, just talking over the clothes lines that we don’t have anymore.