Another First for YW Honoree : Athena Award Added to Ann Shaw’s Achievements
Make no mistake, Ann Shaw is thrilled about receiving the YWCA’s Athena Award recognizing her contributions to the community. But the honor, being presented today at the 12th annual YWCA Leader Luncheon, doesn’t come without a long hard look at reality.
“When the woman who was doing the interview for the slide show (to be shown at the luncheon at the Bonaventure) asked me if I had experienced discrimination because of being a black or a woman, I wanted to scream with laughter,” Shaw said.
‘Much Further to Go’
“Of course--I don’t know of any woman or any black who has lived in America in the times I have who has not. I do think that we’re making progress, but we have so much further to go. The fact that a luncheon like this is necessary shows that we have more to go. Almost invariably these awards go to the first woman to accomplish something, even on this year’s list.”
Shaw has achieved her own firsts, including being named the first woman and the first black to be appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 1975 to serve on the state Commission on Judicial Performance, a post that lasted six years. Her list of YWCA involvements alone runs pages, from her first dance class in Columbus, Ohio, in 1936 to serving as president of the L.A. office, setting up the Y’s Job Corps program and now serving as a member of the World Service Council of the National YWCA.
Shaw has degrees from the University of Redlands, Ohio State University and USC, has taught at Virginia Union University, Central State College in Ohio and in the L.A. school system and has devoted years to the Salvation Army and United Way, currently serving on boards of both.
Her accomplishments were not all easily won, and some came with a price. Even today she finds resistance in accepting women, especially black women, in leadership positions. Three weeks ago she resigned as chairman of the board of a savings and loan; she says the members wanted to restructure the board and place a man as chairman and make Shaw the director.
“The man they wanted has much more business experience than I have or will ever have,” she said. “But my feeling was, if my service was not adequate, then why would you want me to stay as director? I really felt that they were not prepared to have a woman in a leadership role.”
Rather than harbor bitterness, Shaw maintains her cool and says, “I cope with it because I feel that these experiences are going to make you better prepared for the next. With all women, there are many ways to achieve. If you can’t do it one way you can certainly do it in another. But that’s not the worst thing that’s happened. I’ve faced bigger battles than that. That’s minor in comparison.”
Major hurdles included being passed over for a job as a speech teacher in the L.A. city schools about 30 years ago. Although she was second on a list of prospective teachers she was continually ignored for a post that had never been filled by a black. She appealed to the Urban League and brought charges of discrimination, but nothing stuck.
Focus on the Wins
“There was no way to prove it, the way their hiring policies were set up,” she recalls. “When you run into discrimination that is purposely set up to defeat you, things that happen later in life could never be as bad as that. But I don’t want to go through a history of those problems. I want to talk about my wins, not my losses.”
The 65-year-old Shaw says this as she sits all but swallowed up on a plush brown sofa in the spacious house, built in 1923, which has been her family’s home for 30 years.
It was here that she and her late husband Leslie Shaw raised their children; Dan White, 40 (a nephew; they reared him when his father, Ann’s brother, died), a government appraiser; Valerie Lynne, 35, a consultant with a business development firm; Leslie Jr., 34, a free-lance real estate appraiser, and Rebecca, 29, who works for United Airlines.
Husband’s Legacy
Ann Shaw has been a widow for the past two years. Her husband died in 1985 after a long bout with cancer but left behind his own legacy of involvements and firsts. He was the first black to be appointed postmaster of Los Angeles, a position he held from 1963 to 1969. For the last 10 years of his life he was a vice president of Great Western Financial Corp.
His death did change her, despite the fact that she had a strong identity separate from his. “For 38 years you’ve been part of a team,” she said, “and I imagine it was just like a horse pulling a wagon, when you lose one of your team members you’re doing it all by yourself. My husband wanted to live. He fought to live. And he died in a harsh way. I think that was the most hurtful thing, there was nothing I could do. When you’re faced with that, it destroys you.”
But she eventually picked up her momentum again. “I think I found more zest and enthusiasm than I had before. Plus, I had more time. I try to look back on the fact that we did have those 38 years. There are a lot of people who don’t enjoy each other at all.”
She divides her time now among a number of organizations. Besides the Y, the Salvation Army and United Way, she also serves as president of the Wilfandel Club of Los Angeles, a black women’s club and meeting place founded in the ‘40s when blacks were not permitted to hold weddings and parties in local hotels. The clubhouse still houses social activities as well as political functions and other community events. She is a member of the Cathedral Corporation of the Episcopal Church, sits on boards of the UCLA School of Medicine, Loyola Law School and the California Medical Center Foundation board.
Inspiration to Others
And along the way she’s managed to give some one-on-one inspiration and guidance. Olivia E. Mitchell, director of the Mayor’s Office of Youth Development, considers Shaw one of her mentors.
“She has such a diversity,” Mitchell said, “she works in projects in the black community and multi-ethnic communities. She’s willing to share her entrees and her experiences--making trails, bringing people through doors, explaining and encouraging.
“We’ve spoken about being black and female and operating in Los Angeles,” Mitchell added. “When you move into senior management positions, people there are mainly white. Ann taught me to accept who they were, to not blame them and not to respond to it by running away. You have a responsibility to educate them, to teach them there’s another way to relate. The fact that you’re at the same table means something. And you try to introduce the concept that you’re not unique, that there are other black women who are very much like you.”
Shaw gave a preview of her acceptance speech for today, insisting she hadn’t memorized it and then reciting it perfectly. In it there is a line that reads, “In the words of a soul brother, let us always remember, we travel a common road, sisters.”