Research Catalog

Title

Anna Arnold Hedgeman papers, 1953-1983.

Author

Hedgeman, Anna Arnold, 1899-1990.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

7 lin. ft. (13 archival boxes, 2 record cartons)

Summary

• The Anna Arnold Hedgeman papers document the second half of Hedgeman's career in governmental, religious, civil rights, and educational organizations from the 1950s through the early 1980s.
• The Personal/Biographical series includes family correspondence, biographical sketches and resumes, and information on Hedgeman's awards and honorary degrees. The Correspondence series contains incoming and outgoing letters covering twenty-eight years of Hedgeman's career from 1955 to 1982. It includes correspondence of a general nature and from Hedgeman's work as a freelance consultant.
• The Mayoral Aide series documents Hedgeman's work as an aide to Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. from 1954 to 1958 and contains a limited amount of correspondence and printed material pertaining to racial discrimination within city agencies, Hedgeman's visits to school groups, and her trip to the Middle East in 1956.
• The largest and most substantive series, Organizations, is divided into three subseries: Religious, Education, and Community. The Religious subseries contains correspondence, minutes, legislative material, and internal office memoranda pertaining to Hedgeman's time with the National Council of Churches. It also contains research materials and printed matter collected by Hedgeman related to her interest in interfaith activism. The Education subseries contains correspondence, minutes, and printed material from 1963 to 1980 dealing with Hedgeman's consulting work on behalf of several universities, colleges, and school districts where she helped develop curricula and policies for minority students. The Community subseries consists of correspondence and printed matter from 1957 to 1983 on Hedgeman's voluntary service as a board member or committee member of numerous organizations, particularly the National Association of Black Professional Women in Higher Education and Harlem Hospital Center.
• The Government Service series consists primarily of printed material pertaining to federal, state, and local governmental bodies for which Hedgeman served as advisory committee member in the 1960s and 1970s. The bulk of material relates to the National Advisory Council on Vocational Rehabilitation and the New York City Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, but it does not directly document Hedgeman's involvement. Also included in this series are three small files on Hedgeman's participation in White House meetings and conferences.
• The Speaking Engagements and Writings series relates to Hedgeman's journalism, autobiographies, and speeches between 1954 and 1982. It includes annotated typescripts of significant speeches such as Hedgeman's address to the Conference of Women of African and African Descent in Ghana in 1960. A large portion of the series covers the publication and promotion of Hedgeman's two memoirs, The Trumpet Sounds (1964) and The Gift of Chaos (1973). It also contains research materials, drafts, and clippings of Hedgeman's articles for the New York Age.
• The Scrapbook Files series consists of newspaper clippings, leaflets, and pamphlets that Hedgeman compiled into four scrapbooks covering religion, civil rights, feminism, Black-Jewish relations, and labor.

Subjects

• African American authors
• United States > Social conditions > 1960-1980
• African Americans > Religion
• African American women political activists
• African Americans > Education
• National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
• Racism > United States
• Civil rights > United States
• Hedgeman, Anna Arnold, 1899-1990
• Black author
• United States > Race relations
• New York (N.Y.) > Office of the Mayor
• African American women civil rights workers
• African Americans > Civil rights
• United Methodist Church (U.S.) > Commission on Religion and Race

Note

• Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.

Biography (note)

• Anna Arnold Hedgeman (1899-1990) spent more than six decades working in the fields of interfaith and civil rights organizing, government service, and urban affairs. The author of two memoirs, The Trumpet Sounds (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964) and The Gift of Chaos (Oxford, 1977), Hedgeman was a pioneer in opening civil service and political jobs to African-American women.
• Raised in Minnesota, Hedgeman was the first African-American graduate of Hamline University in St. Paul. From 1924 to 1933, she served as an administrator for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in Ohio, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, including five years as membership secretary of the Harlem branch. She married musician Merritt Hedgeman in 1933.
• During the New Deal and early years of World War II, Hedgeman worked for the Emergency Relief Bureau, was a consultant on racial problems for New York City, and monitored race relations for the Federal Office of Civilian Defense. In 1944, the Hedgemans relocated to Washington, D.C., where she became executive director of A. Philip Randolph's National Council for a Permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission. After working on Harry Truman's presidential election in 1948, Hedgeman was appointed to an administrative position in the Federal Security Agency.
• From 1954 to 1958, Hedgeman was a mayoral aide in the cabinet of Robert F. Wagner, Jr. As was often the case throughout her career, Hedgeman was the first African-American woman appointed to this post. From 1958 to 1962, she worked briefly in business and also covered civic and international affairs as a radio commentator and New York Age columnist.
• In the 1960s, Hedgeman was at the center of national civil rights organizing and was the first female member on the administrative planning committee for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Returning to ecumenical work from 1963 to 1967, Hedgeman served in several capacities for the National Council of Churches' Commission on Religion and Race, where she coordinated efforts of clergy and lay leaders to win passage and ensure implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Hedgeman started a consulting service and throughout the 1970s worked as a freelance specialist on interfaith activism, urban affairs, and black studies. She also continued her commitment to public service as a member of countless community committees and government advisory bodies until her death in 1990.

Call Number

Sc MG 123

OCLC

122378673

Author

Hedgeman, Anna Arnold, 1899-1990.

Title

Anna Arnold Hedgeman papers, 1953-1983.

Biography

Anna Arnold Hedgeman (1899-1990) spent more than six decades working in the fields of interfaith and civil rights organizing, government service, and urban affairs. The author of two memoirs, The Trumpet Sounds (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964) and The Gift of Chaos (Oxford, 1977), Hedgeman was a pioneer in opening civil service and political jobs to African-American women.

Raised in Minnesota, Hedgeman was the first African-American graduate of Hamline University in St. Paul. From 1924 to 1933, she served as an administrator for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in Ohio, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, including five years as membership secretary of the Harlem branch. She married musician Merritt Hedgeman in 1933.

During the New Deal and early years of World War II, Hedgeman worked for the Emergency Relief Bureau, was a consultant on racial problems for New York City, and monitored race relations for the Federal Office of Civilian Defense. In 1944, the Hedgemans relocated to Washington, D.C., where she became executive director of A. Philip Randolph's National Council for a Permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission. After working on Harry Truman's presidential election in 1948, Hedgeman was appointed to an administrative position in the Federal Security Agency.

From 1954 to 1958, Hedgeman was a mayoral aide in the cabinet of Robert F. Wagner, Jr. As was often the case throughout her career, Hedgeman was the first African-American woman appointed to this post. From 1958 to 1962, she worked briefly in business and also covered civic and international affairs as a radio commentator and New York Age columnist.

In the 1960s, Hedgeman was at the center of national civil rights organizing and was the first female member on the administrative planning committee for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Returning to ecumenical work from 1963 to 1967, Hedgeman served in several capacities for the National Council of Churches' Commission on Religion and Race, where she coordinated efforts of clergy and lay leaders to win passage and ensure implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Hedgeman started a consulting service and throughout the 1970s worked as a freelance specialist on interfaith activism, urban affairs, and black studies. She also continued her commitment to public service as a member of countless community committees and government advisory bodies until her death in 1990.

Connect to:

Finding Aid

Local Subject

Black author.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 123