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Born July 5, 1899, in Marshalltown, IA
Died January 17, 1990, in Harlem, NY
Anna Arnold Hedgeman, a spirited activist and politician, was the first woman to serve in the cabinet of a mayor of New York. Her role as a member of Mayor Robert Wagner’s cabinet from 1954 to 1958 was preceded and followed by work with governmental and civic organizations. As Coordinator of Special Projects for the Commission on Religion and Race of the National Council of Churches, she was the only woman to serve on the committee under the chairmen who called for the 1963 March on Washington. She is credited with recruiting 40,000 individuals to participate in this seminal civil rights rally.