Our Black Hoosier Educators series will feature notable Black educators with ties to Indiana.

Gertrude Amelia Mahorney was born to John Todd Mahorney and Ann Elizabeth Gray Mahorney in Indianapolis. Her birth date and death date are unknown. Her family left Indiana for a year to live abroad in London. After their return, Mahorney attended Butler University.  She was the first Black woman documented as earning a college degree in Indiana. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1887 and master’s degree in 1889. She was fluent in both English and German. She taught at school 23 and also taught German at school 24. Mahorney also translated documents into German for news publications. In 1906, she moved to Pennsylvania where she taught for a few years. In 1910, when she returned to Indiana, she managed the Ohio Street Colored School in Rockville, Indiana where she was the only teacher for most of her tenure. In 1914, she was also president of the Woman Suffrage Club. It is unknown how Mahorney’s life concluded but she is a notable Hoosier educator.

Sources: Indiana Commision for Women, Butler University, & African Americans in Indianapolis: A Story of a People Determined to Be Free

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