New Novel,To Know Him, Offers Groundbreaking Family History

New novel tells of the little known history of black doctors at the turn of the 20th century. It focuses on the life of John Henry Jordan, the first black doctor in Coweta County, Georgia, and his father-in-law, the first black doctor in Houston.

– Barriers are being broken today like never before, showing the world what is possible in this country. However, before President Obama, a son of Georgia slaves was breaking barriers of his own, building his own white house a century ago. In the new novel, To Know Him, his great-granddaughter and journalist Karen Jordan explores issues of love, family, and faith set against the backdrop of the post-Reconstruction South. The novel tells the story of John Henry Jordan, a son of slaves, who in 1900 becomes the first African-American doctor in Coweta County, Georgia. Jordan’s ambition pits him against his father, a sharecropper, who thinks the idea of any African-American becoming a doctor is fruitless. Fortunately for Jordan, he has a role model to follow: Dr. Edward Ramsey, the first African-American doctor in neighboring Troup County. Ramsey eventually leaves Georgia to become the first African-American doctor to practice medicine in Houston, Texas. Following in Ramsey’s footsteps, Jordan attends the same schools and graduates from Meharry Medical College in 1896 as class valedictorian. He later marries Ramsey’s college-educated daughter, Mollie. The two have only one son who survives infancy. Jordan builds the county’s first African-American hospital, and just as his medical career reaches its peak, flourishing among black and white residents alike, tragedy strikes, forever changing the course of history for his family. The inspiring story chronicled in To Know Him is a must read, detailing the life of a trailblazer who helped set a path for generations to come. For further information, visit www.karenjordanwrites.com.