English: Biography: Ann Tanneyhill's 50-year involvement with the National Urban League began in Springfield, Mass., after graduation in 1928 from the secretarial course at Simmons College. Within two years she was asked to come to the national office in New York as secretary to the director of industrial relations. In 1929 she enrolled part-time in a master's degree program at Columbia University. In 1938 she received her degree in vocational guidance and personnel administration. From 1931 to 1946, she directed national efforts in the League's Vocational opportunity campaign, writing booklets and speeches, holding seminars for coaching applicants for civil service exams, and establishing career conferences in Black colleges. Reviewing the morning mail one day in 1946, she opened a two-sentence letter from a young man saying that he was interested in working for the Urban League. This was Whitney Young, who many years later, in 1961, became executive director of the League. He appointed Miss Tanneyhill assistant director for public relations. From 1968 until retiring in 1971, she was director of conferences, then continued to serve as a special assistant to the executive director. A member of the board of trustees of the National Vocational Guidance Association in the 1950s, she worked to abolish the segregated chapters. She was honored by this organization for her outstanding contributions to the field of guidance and in 1971 was a recipient of the Simmons College Alumnae Award. In 1970, the Urban League established the Ann Tanneyhill Award to be given to an employee who has demonstrated "commitment and dedication to the National Urban League through years of service."

Description: The Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African American women between 1976 and 1981. With support from the Schlesinger Library, the project recorded a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society during the first half of the 20th century. Photograph taken by Judith Sedwick
Repository: Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.
Collection: Black Women Oral History Project
Research Guide: http://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_bwohp

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