Elizabeth Ross Haynes (wife of George Edmund Haynes) is noted for her organizational work to improve the quality of life in the Black community. She was born in Mount Willing, Alabama. In 1903 Haynes received a bachelor of arts degree from Fisk University and 20 years later she earned a master's degree in sociology from Columbia University. She taught for four years, then turned to volunteer work and paid employment in social services. In 1918 Haynes became the assistant director of the Negro Economics Division in the U.S. Department of Labor (George E. Haynes was director). She spent two years as a consultant with the Domestic Service Section of the U.S. Employment Service. During her 10 years with the national board of the Young Women's Christian Association, she helped develop the association's Industrial Division. Her efforts to better the economic circumstances of Black people continued as she worked to improve state employment policies while serving on the New York State Temporary Commission of the Urban Colored Population. Her philosophy of Black upward mobility is communicated in her publications Unsung Heroes (1921) and The Black Boy of Atlanta (1952). See also Notable American Women: The Modern Period (1980), by B. Sicherman et al.