http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-933720.mp3
Kansas City, MO – For the past few months, KC Currents has been following the recently re-opened murder case of Leon Jordan. He helped found Kansas City's African American political organization Freedom, Incorporated. In his role at Freedom, he paved the way for the first African Americans to be elected to the city council and the Missouri State Assembly, himself becoming a representative in 1964. And Jordan was instrumental in the passage of a 1962 public accommodations ordinance, which outlawed segregation in Kansas City.
But Leon Jordan's political influence was cut short in 1970, when Jordan was murdered outside the bar he owned. The case stumped police and was eventually closed, until Kansas City Star reporters Mike McGraw and Glenn Rice dug up the files and found some new leads, which they published in a story this summer. The police ended up re-opening the case, but that didn't stop McGraw and Rice from investigating, as they told KCUR's Susan B. Wilson last week.
This story was produced for KC Currents. To listen on your own schedule, subscribe to the KC Currents Podcast.
