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It took Greenbelt slightly longer than the United States to elect its first black representative, but like President Barack Obama, Emmett Jordan — the city's first black council member — wants less emphasis put on the color of his skin and more on what he plans to accomplish for his community.

"Many people are talking about how I am the first African-American elected to [the] council, and I'm sure my grandparents would be very proud, but it's not a means to an end," Jordan said.

Not only did Jordan, 52, make history for simply being elected to the council, he also scored the second-highest number of votes, making him mayor pro tem. In the absence of Mayor Judith Davis, Jordan would serve as mayor.

"I'm going to continue the responsible fiscal management, but I'm also going to be open to thinking outside the box and not being so traditional," he said.

Jordan, a Cincinnati native who has lived in Greenbelt for 10 years, has been an independent consultant working in marketing and communications services for nonprofits and associations for the past 25 years, although he has been self-employed for the last four. Jordan attended Morehouse College in Atlanta and the University of Cincinnati, where he studied liberal arts and music, but he ultimately got a bachelor's in urban administration from the School of Design Art, Architecture and Planning at the University of Cincinnati.

Before joining the council, Jordan was involved with city organizations including the Greenbriar Condominium Association, the Greenbelt Community Foundation and Greenbelt Neighbors Alliance. One of the things Jordan said he likes about Greenbelt is the diversity.

"Greenbelt has an interesting mix of people you don't find in other places," Jordan said. Some of the other perks are the location, access to public transit, parks and arts, he said.

One aspect the city had been lacking was minority representation on its council, an issue some residents brought to Mel Franklin, the Greater Marlboro Democratic Club's president, who in turn took the matter to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's chapter in Prince George's County in January 2008.

The last black candidate to run unsuccessfully for city office was in 1979, and a second withdrew from the 1993 city elections. This year, Jordan was joined by another black candidate, Che Sayles.

"I at least felt it was worth having a discussion with the NAACP," Franklin said. "It's great that all of that along with the Greenbelt electorate led to the first African-American city councilman. It was a great outcome. Greenbelt residents reacted in making history."

To have a council more reflective of the community, the NAACP suggested after a meeting in the spring with the City Council and residents that the city be divided into five districts with a council member from each area. The NAACP supported district voting over the city's current at-large voting because Prince George's County NAACP President June White Dillard thought smaller districts would provide a greater opportunity for more people to run for office.

While that initiative did not gain support from the council, a move to increase its members from five to seven was approved by a 4-1 vote June 25, effectively adding two new seats to the council.

Jordan said he favored the decision to expand.

"It just makes sense. We've had five seats since 1937, when the city was founded," Jordan said. "Having seven council members instead of five means that we can split up responsibilities and ultimately do a better job."

Jordan said he had been thinking about running for council for a while, even before the two additional seats were added.

"My friends will tell you that I have talked about running for several years. I came in second out nine candidates ... so it seems that I would have been elected regardless of the expansion. I had strong support throughout the city," Jordan said.

One of those friends includes Sylvia Lewis, who co-chairs the Greenbelt Community Foundation with Jordan and was also his campaign treasurer for the recent election.

"I think our encouragement helped him decide," Lewis said. "He also got a lot of support from the incumbents, when they saw what a tremendous addition he would be."

Dillard said she was very pleased with the election results and added that she was in attendance at the Nov. 9 council meeting to watch Jordan be officially sworn in to the council.

"We feel like we have certainly created diversity on the City Council," she said. "According to the most recent census data, the African-American population is about 60 percent for the city of Greenbelt."

The ACLU also called for election changes. They wanted the city to increase registration and turnout efforts; shift the election date to coincide with the state and national elections; and to employ a single-member district system or proportional representation.

But Deborah Jeon, ACLU of Maryland legal director, said she was pleased overall with the election results.

"I was pleased in general with more diverse candidates from different parts of the city [that] turned out and I was pleased to see that an African American candidate was elected for the first time," Jeon said.

Del. Justin Ross (D-Dist. 22) of Greenbelt, a lifelong resident, hailed the election results as "an incredibly important day for Greenbelt."

"Greenbelt's strength is the diversity of its citizens, and we now have an elected council that better represents our citizenry," Ross said.

Now that he has made history, Jordan said he wants to move forward with his agenda, including building the city's economy by reaching out to Greenbelt's small businesses.

"We've got businesses that other cities envy, like hotels, retailers, doctors and lawyers," Jordan said. "We need to engage business owners to make them feel like they're a part of the community."