Gertrude Amelia Mahorney
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- John Todd Mahorney
- Ann Elizabeth Gray
Gertrude A. Mahorney | |
|---|---|
 Gertrude Amelia Mahorney, 1887 Butler University class photo | |
| Born | 1863 Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Died | Unknown |
| Parents |
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Gertrude Amelia Mahorney became the first documented African-American woman to graduate from an Indiana college or university when she received a bachelor's degree from Butler University in 1887.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In 1889, she also earned a master's degree from Butler.[8]
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana about 1863,[9][10] Gertrude Mahorney was the daughter of John Todd Mahorney (1829–1890) and Ann Elizabeth Gray Mahorney (c. 1834 – 1904).[11][12] Her parents owned an ornamental hair (wig) business on Illinois Street near the prestigious Bates House and were active in the antislavery National Negro Convention movement. John Mahorney entered the real estate business,[13] was an author[14] and was the first African-American in Marion County to become active in local Democratic politics.[15][16] He was active in the labor movement, organizing the first African-American Knights of Labor assembly in Indianapolis. Gertrude was raised in the household with her step-grandmother, Johanna Gray, a Prussian and German speaker, and Gertrude became proficient in German.[17]
In 1877, John Mahorney moved his family to Europe.[18] Gertrude lived in London's East End and had opportunities to interact with people of diverse backgrounds. In 1879, they moved to Irvington, a suburb of Indianapolis, so that Gertrude and her brother could attend Butler University. While at Butler, Mahorney was confronted with racial segregation but “stood on her merits and...won the regard of students and professors.”[19]
In 1890, her father, John T. Mahorney, died at their Irvington home[20] and was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery. Two years later, Gertrude's brother, John Joseph Mahorney, a civil engineer and 1889 Butler graduate[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] died at age 21 from appendicitis.[28]
Gertrude lived with her mother[29] until her mother died in 1904. The two often traveled together.[30]