Archives West Finding Aid

Emmanuel Taylor Gordon, was born April 29, 1893, in White Sulphur Springs, Montana, the youngest of five children of John Francis Gordon and Mary Anna Goodall Gordon. In Cairo, Illinois, in 1879, John Gordon, who claimed descent from Zulu ancestors, married Mary Anna Goodall, who had been born in slavery in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1853. The couple, and their baby son Robert, moved to Montana from Illinois in 1881, coming up the Missouri River on a steamboat. John Gordon worked as a cook in the mining camps of Barker and Castle. Their daughter Rose was born in Barker in 1883. About 1884 or 1885 the family moved to White Sulphur Springs where they remained--- the town's only African American family. The senior Gordon left White Sulphur Springs in 1895, headed for the Alaska gold fields. The family believed he was killed in a train wreck in Canada. His widow Mary Gordon raised the children alone, supporting the family primarily by working as a laundress.

Young Taylor, or "Mannie", Gordon spent his early years attending the local school and doing a variety of odd jobs, including cowboying, carrying messages for the local bawdy houses, and working as a automobile driver-mechanic. It was in this capacity that he met circus owner John Ringling who had a ranch near White Sulphur Springs. About 1910, when Taylor was 17, Ringling hired him as chauffeur for his Smith River Development Company. He later hired Gordon as chef and porter on his private railroad car. Taylor traveled around the U.S. on the train, experiencing for the first time the prejudice and discrimination facing blacks in the 1910s and 1920s. In New York City, Gordon became involved in the "Harlem Renaissance." He joined with pianist Rosamond Johnson in 1925 in a musical vaudeville act, performing Negro spirituals. The act toured for several years, including a series of concerts in Europe in 1927, before dissolving in the early 1930s. Gordon also performed on Broadway and acted in one movie, The Emperor Jones, with Paul Robeson. In 1929 Gordon's autobiography Born to Be was published (reprinted in 1975 and 1995).

Gordon returned to White Sulphur Springs in 1935 and spent the winter of that year snowbound in a cabin at Sheep Creek Ranch. During this time he wrote a novel, entitled Daonda, but his efforts to have it published were not successful. In addition, it became increasingly difficult for Gordon to make a living as his attempts to renew his musical career failed. He eventually turned to inventing toys and working as a lathe operator in a New Jersey B-29 factory during the World War II.

Gordon suffered a mental breakdown in 1947, and was hospitalized in New York for most of the following twelve years. He became increasingly paranoid, his problems being exacerbated by a dispute with John Steinbeck's publisher Viking Press. Gordon had previously submitted Daonda to the same publisher, and he believed that Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath had been plagiarized from his work. The feeling of having been cheated out of wealth and fame, and the subsequent belief that he was continually under electronic surveillance by the government, dominated much of the rest of Taylor Gordon's life.

In February 1959, Gordon was released from Central Islip Hospital to the care of his sister, Rose Gordon, who still resided in White Sulphur Springs. He lived there quietly, surviving on rental incomes and an antique business. He also occasionally gave concerts and talks for local groups. He continued to write, including the 1970 Born To Be Sequel, but his only publication was a 1967 booklet entitled The Man Who Built the Stone Castle describing White Sulphur Springs' historic landmark and its creator, B.R. Sherman. Taylor Gordon died on May 5, 1971.

Taylor Gordon had three older brothers besides his sister, Rose. Robert James Gordon (Bob) (1881-1962) was born in Cairo, Illinois, and lived in White Sulphur Springs working many years as the custodian for the Sherman Hotel and the First National Bank; Rose Beatris Gordon (1883-1968) was born in Barker, Montana, and lived in White Sulphur Springs operating several businesses (Rose's Cafe, Kentucky Kitchen, Gordon Novelty) and working as a physical therapist; John Francis (Sam) Gordon, Jr., (1885-1952) was born in White Sulphur Springs and worked thirty years for the Dollar Steamship Line headquartered in Seattle; George Washington Gordon (1888-1948) was born in White Sulphur Springs and served 29 years as a Steward for the Bozeman Elks Club.