Gloria Tanner
{{short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Gloria Tanner
|image =
|image_size =
|caption = circa 2002
|birth_name = Gloria Travis
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|07|16}}
|birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|4|4|1935|07|16}}
|death_place = Denver, Colorado
|nationality = American
|spouse = Theodore Ralph Tanner
|children = 3
|occupation = Journalist, real estate agent
|party = Democratic
|state_senate = Colorado
|district = 33rd
|term_start = 1994
|term_end = 2000
|office2 = Colorado House of Representatives
|term_start2 = 1985
|term_end2 = 1994
}}
Gloria Travis Tanner (July 16, 1935 – April 4, 2022)[https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/honorable-gloria-travis-tanner The History Makers: The Honorable Gloria Travis Tanner][https://www.denverpost.com/2022/04/05/gloria-tanner-colorado-senate-dies-denver/ The Denver Post: Gloria Tanner, first Black woman to serve in the Colorado Senate, dies at home in Denver] was a politician and public figure in Colorado. A Democrat, she served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1985-1994.{{cite web | url=http://www.strongsisters.org/women-who-served-in-the-colorado-house-of-representatives/ | title=Women who served in the Colorado House of Representatives | }} In 1994, she became the first African American woman to serve as a Colorado state senator. In 2000, she founded a leadership and training institute for black women in Colorado. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.
Early life and education
Gloria Travis was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Marcellus Travis and Blanche Arnold Travis. She is one of five sisters.{{cite web |url=http://gazette.com/death-notices-for-may-21-2013/article/1501092|title=Death Notices for May 21, 2013|publisher=gazette.com|date=May 21, 2013|access-date=January 30, 2016}}
Before attending college, she was an administrative assistant for the Office of Hearings and Appeals at the United States Department of the Interior from 1967 to 1972. She reported for the Denver Weekly News, an African American newspaper, from 1972 to 1976,{{cite web |url=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/honorable-gloria-travis-tanner|title=The Honorable Gloria Travis Tanner|work=The History Makers|date=November 6, 2008|access-date=January 30, 2016}} and also worked as a real estate agent.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0IDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24|title=People|page=24|journal=Jet|date=June 15, 1978}}
She earned her bachelor's degree in political science from the Metropolitan State University of Denver in 1974 and her master's degree in urban affairs at the University of Colorado in 1976.
Political career
In 1976 Tanner began working as the executive assistant to Colorado lieutenant governor George L. Brown. In 1978 she became executive director of communications for Colorado state senator Regis Groff.
She successfully ran for a seat in the Colorado State House of Representatives for the 7th district in 1985. She became the second African American to fill a leadership position in the house with her election as House Minority Caucus leader in 1987, a position she held until 1990.{{sfn|Beaton|2012|p=345}} Upon the resignation of Groff in 1994, Tanner was appointed to replace him. This appointment made her the first African American woman state senator in Colorado history.{{sfn|Beaton|2012|p=345}}{{sfn|Noel|2015|p=222}} Representing District 33 as a Democrat,{{cite web |url= http://www.coloradostatesman.com/993439-gloria-tanner-continues-nurture-young-leaders/|title=Gloria Tanner continues to nurture young leaders|first=Ernest|last=Luning|date=April 14, 2012|access-date=January 30, 2016|work=The Colorado Statesman}} she served as a member of the senate's joint budget committee and "sponsored and passed significant legislation pertaining to civil rights for women and minorities, marital discrimination in the workplace, parental responsibility, workers' compensation cost savings, and parental rights for adoptive parents". She retired from the senate as of January 1, 2001.{{cite web |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-81071287.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116021136/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-81071287.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 16, 2018|title=Senator Announces Start of Leadership Institute|first=Bob|last=Jackson|date=October 8, 2000|access-date=January 30, 2016|work=Rocky Mountain News|url-access=subscription }}
Leadership and training institute
In October 2000 she announced the establishment of the Senator Gloria Tanner Leadership and Training Institute for Future Black Women Leaders of Colorado. This institute grooms black women to serve in the state government, on commissions, and on boards.{{sfn|Sanbonmatsu|2010|p=141}}
Other activities
Tanner was the instigator and co-founder of Colorado Black Women for Political Action, founded in 1977,{{cite web |url= http://www.cbwpa.org/#!about-us/cjg9|title=About Us|publisher=Colorado Black Women for Political Action|year=2015|access-date=January 30, 2016}} and past chair of the Colorado Caucus of Black Elected Officials. In 1998{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AmrJw8QAe2kC&pg=PA1783|title=Congressional Record Vol. 146-Part 2: Proceedings and Debates of the 106th Congress Second Session|publisher=Government Printing Office|date=February 29, 2000|access-date=January 30, 2016|page=1783}} she was elected president of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislators/Women.
Awards and honors
Tanner was named "2000 Legislator of the Year" by the Colorado Association of Community Centered Boards, and was a co-winner of "Legislator of the Year" by the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association in 1998.{{cite web |url=https://www.ctlanet.org/index.cfm?pg=CTLASpringDinnerAwards|title=CTLA's Annual Awards|publisher= Colorado Trial Lawyers Association|year=2016|access-date=January 30, 2016}} She received the "Leadership Denver" award from the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce.
She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9L3Lq-rT8XkC&pg=PA9|title= Extraordinary Women of the Rocky Mountain West|publisher=Pikes Peak Library District|year=2010|isbn=978-1567352771|page=9}}
Personal life
In 1955, she married Theodore Ralph Tanner, with whom she had two daughters and a son.{{cite web |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-81072804.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116023434/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-81072804.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 16, 2017|title=Tribute Dinner Honors Retiring Sen. Tanner|work=Rocky Mountain News|date=October 24, 2000|access-date=January 30, 2016|url-access=subscription }}
References
=Notes=
{{reflist|30em}}
=Sources=
- {{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Gsu9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT345|title=Colorado Women: A History|first=Gail M.|last=Beaton|year=2012|publisher=University Press of Colorado|isbn= 978-1457173820}}
- {{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1Qn5CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA222 |title=Colorado: A Historical Atlas|first=Thomas J.|last=Noel|year=2015|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn= 978-0806153537}}
- {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVYZODJWEiIC&pg=PA141|title=Where Women Run: Gender and Party in the American States|first=Kira |last=Sanbonmatsu|year=2010|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0472025657}}
External links
- [http://extras.denverpost.com/scene/jd1022.htm "Gloria Tanner's admirers flock to One Glorious Occasion"] The Denver Post, October 22, 2000
- [http://www.cogreatwomen.org/project-tag/tanner/ Colorado Women's Hall of Fame]
{{Authority control}}
{{Colorado Women's Hall of Fame}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Gloria}}
Category:Women state legislators in Colorado
Category:Colorado state senators
Category:Members of the Colorado House of Representatives
Category:Metropolitan State University of Denver alumni
Category:University of Colorado Denver alumni
Category:Politicians from Denver
Category:Politicians from Atlanta
Category:Businesspeople from Colorado
Category:Journalists from Colorado
Category:21st-century American women
Category:20th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly