Gertrude Nelson

Gertrude DeWitt Nelson was an AfricanAmerican military, civilian, and American Red Cross nurse from Louisiana whose career spanned much of the 20th century. She was born at the end of the 19th century and died at the start of the 21st century.

Nelson was born in Colfax, the seat of Grant Parish, which is named for Schuyler M. Colfax, the vice president under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant. She received her early education from the J. B. LaFarge School in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish, in central Louisiana. On June 20, 1929, she earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, an historically black college, which included George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington on the faculty and in the administration. After her Tuskegee years, Nelson taught at Bishop College in Marshall, the seat of Harrison County, Texas. She was also the dean of women at Bishop, another historically black institution which opened its doors in 1881 and closed permanently in 1988 after relocation to Dallas, Texas.

Source: Wikipedia