After retiring from teaching, Gordon continued to speak out in defense of civil rights for the rest of his life. He died in Edmonton, Alberta, on January 2, 2012. Ten hours later, in a hospital a block away, Esther Schmoe also passed away. On May 29, 2012, President Obama—standing in front of an embroidered gold curtain in the East Room of the White House, with Susan Carnahan and other members of Gordon’s family looking on—posthumously conferred on Gordon the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. As he presented the medal, Obama quoted from Gordon himself: “Unless
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