Gloria Tanner

Gloria Travis Tanner (July 16, 1935 – April 4, 2022)^[1][2] was a politician and public figure in Colorado. A Democrat, she served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1985-1994.^[3] 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.

Gloria Travis was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Marcellus Travis and Blanche Arnold Travis.^[4] She is one of five sisters.^[5]

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.^[4] She reported for the Denver Weekly News, an African American newspaper, from 1972 to 1976,^[4] and also worked as a real estate agent.^[6]

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.^[4]

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.^[4]

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.^[4][7] 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.^[4][7][8] Representing District 33^[9] as a Democrat,^[10] 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".^[11] She retired from the senate as of January 1, 2001.^[9]

In October 2000 she announced the establishment of the Senator Gloria Tanner Leadership and Training Institute for Future Black Women Leaders of Colorado.^[9] This institute grooms black women to serve in the state government, on commissions, and on boards.^[12]

Tanner was the instigator and co-founder of Colorado Black Women for Political Action, founded in 1977,^[13] and past chair of the Colorado Caucus of Black Elected Officials.^[11] In 1998^[11] she was elected president of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislators/Women.^[11]

Tanner was named "2000 Legislator of the Year" by the Colorado Association of Community Centered Boards,^[11] and was a co-winner of "Legislator of the Year" by the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association in 1998.^[14] She received the "Leadership Denver" award from the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce.^[11]

She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.^[15]

In 1955, she married Theodore Ralph Tanner, with whom she had two daughters and a son.^[16]

• Beaton, Gail M. (2012). Colorado Women: A History. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-1457173820.
• Noel, Thomas J. (2015). Colorado: A Historical Atlas. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806153537.
• Sanbonmatsu, Kira (2010). Where Women Run: Gender and Party in the American States. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472025657.

• "Gloria Tanner's admirers flock to One Glorious Occasion" The Denver Post, October 22, 2000
• Colorado Women's Hall of Fame